1  HELEN 


ANG 


*  **»•  — " «» ANGELES 


THE  TANG 


THE  TANG 


BY 

HELEN  BELL 


BOSTON 

SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 
PUBLISHERS 


Copyright,  1921, 
BY  SMALL,  MAYNARD  &  COMPANY 

(INCORPORATED) 


A  spring  twilight  in  the  city  of  New  York  —  her 
sordidness  painted  with  the  rose  of  the  afterglow, 
powdered  with  pale  blue  and  violet  mists  and  decked 
with  tiny  gems  of  yellow  light. 

Through  a  high  window  hung  with  purple  and 
gold  one  of  her  many  lovers  looked  upon  her  with 
young  grim  eyes  that  for  the  first  time  pierced  her 
tinsel  veil  and  saw  her  ugliness. 

In  his  hand,  violet-scented,  crumpled,  lay  the 
messenger  of  her  betrayal. 

"  Dear  Danny : 

"  You  can  tell  by  the  length  of  this,  I  know,  that 
I  have  something  important  to  say  to  you.  I  have 
—  and  I  was  a  coward  to  take  this  way  of  doing  it 
instead  of  telling  you  last  night.  But  I  just 
couldn't,  Danny,  while  you  were  right  there  being 
my  wonderful  pal  as  perfectly  as  ever,  and  looking 
like  everything  that  is  handsome  and  thoughtful  and 
in  love  all  done  up  in  one  package  and  addressed  to 
me. — 


vi  THE  TANG 

"  Fm  going  away,  Danny  —  away  out  there  in 
the  big  Northwest  where  my  brother  is.  I'm  going 
in  spite  of  my  hot-house  cultivation  —  in  spite  of 
the  taunts  of  the  unbelievers  —  in  spite  of  the  spring 

—  and  you. 

"  And  to  get  the  hurt  part  over  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible I  must  tell  you  that  I  decided  it  all  last  night 
as  we  sat  in  Sherry's  together  and  listened  to  the 
night  song  of  the  City.  I  decided  it  looking  at  you 

—  and  realizing  that  you  are  what  you  are  —  my 
wonderful  pal  —  and  that  you  want  me  —  and  what 
you  have  to  offer  me  —  but  oh,  Danny,  realizing, 
too,  how  much  you  belonged  where  you  were  —  and 
how  much  I  did  not.     For  I  was  stifled  by  the 
scented  smoke  —  deafened  by  the  blaring  sound  of 
the  orchestra  —  blinded  by  the  glaring  lights  —  and 
I  longed  to  tear  off  the  chains  that  kept  me  there 
and  to  push  over  the  table  and  push  over  the  silly 
people  and  run  —  run  —  run ! 

"  And  while  I  was  wondering  where  I  would  like 
to  run,  T  closed  my  eyes  for  a  moment  and  it  seemed 
as  though  the  smoke  was  the  smoke  of  a  campfire  — 
and  instead  of  the  lights  I  saw  tiny  twinkling  stars 
and  across  from  me  sat  a  man  —  a  wonderful  gray- 
eyed  man,  Danny,  and  it  was  almost  you  —  but  not 


THE  TANG  vii 

quite.  And  I  opened  my  eyes  and  looked  at  you 
again  and  then  I  was  sure  that  it  wasn't.  And  I 
wanted  to  tell  you  then  —  to  explain  to  you  and  try 
to  make  you  see  it  as  I  do  —  but  you  were  so  satis- 
fied —  so  obviously  where  you  belonged  —  a  pol- 
ished jewel  in  a  polished  setting  —  that  I  couldn't. 

"  You  know  it's  in  my  blood,  Danny, —  the 
'  Tang,'  grandfather  Barrows  used  to  call  it,  '  the 
tang  of  the  great  gray  spaces.'  He  was  with  Mac- 
kenzie—  and  the  stories  he  used  to  tell  us  about 
their  adventures  were  what  planted  the  germ  of  un- 
rest in  Steve,  I  guess.  At  any  rate  he  left  a  fortune 
and  a  brilliant  career  with  a  pen,  for  a  horse  and  a 
gun. 

"  So  I  am  going  to  find  Steve.  He  will  under- 
stand and  will  know  what  is  best  for  me  to  do. 
It  seems  strange  that  I  have  not  heard  from  him 
for  over  six  months,  but  he  is  probably  on  some 
long  '  commission.' 

"  And  oh,  Danny  dear,  please  do  not  think  I  am 
leaving  you  easily.  It's  the  hardest  thing  I  ever 
tried  to  do  —  for  it  is  true  that  I  almost  loved  you. 
But  always  there  was  something  —  I  never  could 
analyze  it,  but  now  I  believe  I  am  beginning  to 
understand  what  it  is  —  that  seemed  to  be  lacking. 


viii  THE  TANG 

And  I  believe  that  if  I  do  find  HIM  out  there  —  that 
he  shall  be  very  much  like  you  —  with  only  one 
thing  added  —  the  '  Tang/ 

"  Forgive  me,  Danny,  for  leaving  you  like  this, 
if  you  can  —  but  I  could  not  bear  to  say  good-by. 
Do  not  try  to  follow  me.  It  would  do  no  good 
—  I  shall  not  change  my  mind. 

"  BARBARA." 

Suddenly,  donning  her  brightest  jewels  —  some 
red  —  some  green  —  more  yellow  —  until  her  bril- 
liance dimmed  the  first  stars  of  the  evening  and  the 
rising  moon,  the  City  slipped  her  shining  arms  into 
the  shadows  of  the  room  and  gathered  in  their  em- 
brace the  man  who  belonged  to  her. 

Four  thousand  miles  to  the  northwest,  beside  a 
campfire  on  a  field  of  snow,  another  man,  in  the 
uniform  of  the  Royal  North  West  Mounted  Police, 
sat  reading  another  letter.  It,  too,  was  scented, 
but  faintly,  as  for  two  years,  confined  in  a  leather 
wallet,  it  had  traveled  strange  ways  —  the  trails  of 
men  who  were  "  wanted." 

The  man  read  it  through  slowly,  with  a  half 
smile  on  his  lips  and  in  his  eyes.  They  were  firm 


THE  TANG  ix 

lips  —  browned  to  the  color  of  his  skin  by  storm 
and  sun  —  and  the  eyes  shone  gray  and  kind  in  the 
firelight. 

"  Dear  little  Butterfly,"  he  said  softly  to  the  sig- 
nature at  the  end.  "  You  were  right  —  the  cold 
would  have  frozen  your  bright  little  wings  and  the 
great  silence  have  terrified  you.  You  were  meant 
for  the  music  of  guitars  in  the  southland  —  for  love- 
songs  in  summer  twilights  —  for  bright  lights  and 
for  laughter  —  always." 

As  though  parting  with  something  once  held  dear, 
but  irrevocably  gone,  he  touched  the  bit  of  paper  to 
the  fire.  For  a  moment  it  seemed  to  poise  on  the 
flame  and  then,  bright-winged  against  the  dark  sky, 
it  spread  and  rose  and  flew  into  the  night. 

The  man  watched  it  go,  and  then  he  stood  and 
stretched  his  great  arms  wide  and  filled  his  lungs 
with  the  cold  clear  air. 

"  Yes,"  he  called  after  it,  "  you  were  right  —  I  do 
love  Her  more  than  I  loved  you  —  and  oh,  how  glad 
I  am  that  you  sent  me  out  to  Her  —  glistening  Siren 
Country  —  temptress  of  the  Law  and  of  the  Outlaw 
alike,  ever  calling  to  the  red  blood  in  men  —  despis- 
ing the  blue  —  cold  —  baffling  —  unconquered !  " 

As  he  finished  speaking  a  lobo  wolf  howled  some- 


x  THE  TANG 

where  far  to  the  northward  —  dismal  —  uncanny  — 
a  challenge  of  the  Siren  Country  —  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing silence  came  the  sharp  crack  of  a  gun.  A 
bullet  sang  by  his  head  and  struck  through  the  snow 
a  foot  beyond  the  campfire. 

He  was  alert  on  the  instant.  With  his  foot  he 
dug  into  the  hard  snow  and  pushed  it  on  to  the  fire, 
deadening  it.  Then  with"  his  eyes  searching  the 
elusive  blue  shadows  beyond  him,  and  his  hand  on 
his  gun,  he  waited. 


THE  TANG 


THE  TANG 

CHAPTER  ONE 

Summer  had  come  to  the  north  country  —  there 
is  no  spring  —  and  with  it  the  thaw.  The  caribou, 
the  geese  and  the  ducks  and  other  birds  had  come 
back  to  the  mountains,  and  the  Barrens  were  covered 
with  moss. 

The  trappers  brought  their  packs  of  fur  to  the 
coast  —  in  the  mines  began  the  washing  of  the  great 
piles  of  gravel  —  and  the  gardens  seemed  to  spring 
up  overnight  in  the  towns  and  the  settlements. 

Across  the  prairies  and  around  the  foothills  rang 
the  mating  calls  of  the  creatures  of  the  wild. 

For  three  months  the  Siren  Country  would  smile 
and  wear  wild  flowers  in  her  hair  —  and  then  the 
stern  hard  winter  would  set  in  again. 

In  the  office  of  the  Commissioner  of  the  Royal 
North  West  Mounted  Police  at  Dawson  City,  two 
men  were  talking  together  on  a  matter  evidently  of 
great  importance.  The  elder  sat  in  the  Commis- 


2  THE  TANG 

sioner's  chair  and  leaned  across  the  desk,  searching 
with  hard,  eaglelike  eyes,  the  strong  tanned  face  of 
the  young  officer  who  stood  before  him. 

"  I  can  hardly  believe,"  he  said,  "  that  he  has 
fooled  us  again,  Lisle.  He  must  be  dead !  " 

"  Perhaps,"  replied  the  younger  man,  "  in  which 
case  I  shall  find  his  bones.  I  returned  only  for 
more  supplies.  The  trail  all  the  way  from  the  Kick- 
ing Horse  to  the  Columbus  was  impassable.  It 
ought  to  be  thawed  out  now." 

The  Commissioner  tapped  the  table  impatiently 
and  considered. 

"  You  say  the  bullet  was  not  a  Dominion  ?  "  he 
said  presently. 

"  It  was  a  Liiger  —  a  German  make,"  replied  the 
other,  "  but  that  doesn't  mean  anything.  He's  slick 
enough  to  have  walked  into  Dawson  right  under  our 
noses  and  bought  a  new  gun." 

"  Right,"  said  the  Commissioner.  "  He  was  the 
wiriest  man  we  had  in  the  service.  That's  why  he 
was  so  valuable.  That's  also  why  he's  now  so  dan- 
gerous. Damn  it  —  you  were  gone  so  long  I 
thought  you'd  turned  too.  Let's  see  —  when  was 
Roth  killed?" 

"  Two  years  ago  this  month." 


THE  TANG  3 

"  Sit  down." 

Lisle  took  a  chair  opposite  the  desk.  The  Com- 
missioner opened  a  drawer  and  drew  out  a  packet 
containing  about  four  letters.  They  were  all  ad- 
dressed in  a  large  free  feminine  handwriting  to 

"  Sgt.  Stephen  Barrows, 
Dawson  City, 

Yukon, 
c/o  R.N.W.M.P.  H'dq'ters.— Canada." 

"  From  his  sister,"  said  the  Commissioner.  "  She 
thinks  he's  still  in  the  service  and  she's  coming  here. 
In  fact  she's  due  to-day." 

"  Coming  here,"  repeated  Lisle,  "  but  what  — " 

"That's  just  it  — but  what?  She  thinks  she's 
coming  to  stay.  But  of  course  she  isn't.  She's  go- 
ing back  on  the  next  train.  But  in  the  meantime  I 
play  the  role  of  disillusioner  and  have  my  office  full 
of  scenes  and  my  neck  wept  on." 

"  Couldn't  you  — "  began  Lisle. 

"  Couldn't  I  what  ?  "  snapped  the  Commissioner. 
"If  you've  any  ideas,  tell  me  about  them.  But  if 
you're  going  to  suggest  that  I  don't  tell  her  the 
truth,  don't  suggest  it.  Naturally,  I  thought  of  that 
myself.  But  I  want  her  to  know  it.  She  ought  to 


4  THE  TANG 

know  it.  I  tell  you,  Lisle,"  he  cried,  pushing  the 
letters  into  the  drawer  and  shutting  it  with  a  bang 
for  emphasis,  "  that  there  are  too  many  sisters  and 
mothers  and  fathers  too  damned  ignorant  of  the 
truth  about  their  beloved  brothers  and  sons.  If 
they  weren't,  they'd  grind  into  'em  what  the  Law 
means  before  they  grow  a  mind  of  their  own  an* 
get  beyond  it.  This  silly,  trusting  young  thing  — 
I  know  she's  young  by  the  letters,  and  I  suppose 
she's  silly  —  considers  her  brother  a  hero  —  has 
been  thinkin'  him  one  all  her  life — an'  it's  high 
time  she  finds  out  that  he  ain't  —  so  she  won't  be 
measurin'  her  standards  of  men  by  him.  I  tell  you, 
Lisle,  it's  respect  for  the  Law  —  born  an'  bred  in 
the  blood  —  that  makes  an'  keeps  men  —  men!" 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  came  a  girl's  voice  from 
the  doorway  —  a  clear,  soft  voice,  but  somewhat 
tired,  "  I  wanted  to  see  Commissioner  McLean  — 
they  told  me  you  were  alone.  I'll  wait,"  and  she 
started  to  withdraw. 

The  men  sprang  to  their  feet. 

"  Come  in,"  said  McLean. 

The  girl  hesitated,  glancing  at  Lisle,  who  saluted 
his  chief  and  moved  toward  the  door. 

"Miss  Barrows?"  asked  the  Commissioner. 


THE  TANG  5 

The  girl  smiled  and  nodded.  Her  eyes  were 
wide  and  very  blue.  McLean  noted  —  blue  like  — 
of  course  like  Steve's  —  but  like  something  else,  too 
—  snow  in  shadow,  he  thought  subconsciously  — 
and  her  hair  somehow  reminded  him  of  the  sky  at 
night.  It  was  black  with  blue  half-lights.  Strange- 
ly enough,  too,  the  simile  was  followed  out  when 
she  smiled.  It  was  like  the  sunlight  flashing  on 
the  snow. 

Lisle  stood  aside  at  the  doorway  to  allow  her  to 
pass  in.  As  he  did  so  she  looked  up  at  him  and 
for  a  moment  their  glances  held. 

"  Somehow,"  he  mused  as  he  stepped  into  the 
street,  "  I  don't  think  McLean's  going  to  have  his 
neck  wept  on.  But  if  I  were  he  I  should  be  some- 
what —  er  —  disappointed !  " 

"  My  brother  told  you  I  was  coming?  "  asked  the 
girl  as  she  sank  wearily  into  the  chair  McLean  pulled 
out  for  her. 

At  the  question  the  sunlight  and  the  shadows  on 
the  snow  were  forgotten.  McLean  took  a  chair 
opposite  her  —  stern-eyed  —  brusque  —  and  it  was 
the  voice  of  the  Law  that  answered. 

"  No,"  he  said  shortly,  "  he  did  not  tell  me.  I 
have  not  seen  him  —  lately." 


6  THE  TANG 

There  was  something  in  the  tone  of  his  voice  that 
made  the  girl  start. 

"  You  have  not  —  but  then  how  did  you  know  — 
where  is  he  ?  "  she  faltered. 

The  Commissioner  did  not  reply  at  once.  For  a 
brief  instant  he  was  baffled  by  the  shadows  on  the 
snow.  They  had  deepened  and  grown  wider.  He 
found  himself  wishing  he  could  say  something  that 
would  make  the  sun  come  out  again. 

"  I  don't  know  where  he  is,"  he  said. 

"  You  mean  he  is  on  a  commission  and  you  don't 
just  — "  began  the  girl. 

"  I  mean,"  interrupted  McLean,  leaning  forward 
and  fixing  her  with  eyes  that  had  searched  many  a 
face  and  penetrated  the  guilt  it  sought  to  hide,  "  that 
your  brother  —  is  missing !  " 

The  sentence  was  like  the  click  of  a  gun  that  fails 
to  go  off.  He  had  cocked  and  aimed  and  pulled  the 
trigger  —  but  instead  of  the  expected  fusillade  came 
but  the  two  words  — "  is  missing." 

Perhaps  it  was  because  of  the  shadows  —  perhaps 
the  memory  of  the  sunlight  —  some  might  have 
called  it  a  "  hunch,"  or  the  intervention  of  the  hand 
of  Fate.  But  McLean  blamed  it  upon  a  sound  which 


THE  TANG  7 

came  through  the  window  just  at  that  moment — • 
the  long,  wailing  howl  of  a  dog! 

"  Missing !  "  repeated  the  girl,  slowly  realizing 
what  the  Commissioner  meant.  Then  came  a  tor- 
rent of  questions.  And  McLean  replied  to  each 
with  the  truth. 

Stephen  Barrows  had  been  sent  in  May  two 
years  before  to  "  get "  an  outlaw  called  "  Robin 
Hood  "  because  of  his  practice  of  robbing  only  the 
rich  fur  traders  and  merchants,  and  the  rumors 
that  he  sent  packages  containing  the  booty  to  ad- 
dresses in  the  poor  section  of  Chicago.  Barrows 
had  not  returned  to  headquarters  nor  had  any  word 
been  received  from  him.  It  was  generally  believed 
that  he  was  dead.  They  had  indeed  searched  for 
him.  In  fact  they  were  still  doing  so. 

The  Commissioner  omitted,  however,  that  when 
Stephen  Barrows  was  found  he  would  be  tried  for 
murder.  That  a  certain  man  calling  himself  Her- 
bert Roth  had  come  to  headquarters  in  November 
last  and  inquired  for  Steve.  On  being  told  that 
the  young  officer  was  out  on  a  commission,  he  waited 
in  Dawson  until  February,  and  then  quietly  dis- 
appeared. Three  weeks  later  two  Indian  trappers 


8  THE  TANG 

brought  his  body  back  on  a  dog-sled  from  a  place 
near  the  banks  of  a  lake  at  one  end  of  the  Bonnet 
Plume  River,  where  they  had  found  him  with  two 
bullet  wounds,  one  in  his  arm  and  the  other  in  his 
heart.  The  bullet  in  the  heart  was  not  found,  but 
the  one  in  the  arm  was  a  Dominion  .42,  the  official 
calibre  and  make  of  those  used  by  the  Mounted. 
The  trappers  had  also  brought  a  button  which  they 
had  found  in  the  snow  beside  the  body.  It  was 
Stephen  Barrows'  identification  badge. 

Investigation  as  to  Herbert  Roth's  identity  dis- 
closed that  he  had  just  completed  a  three-year  term 
in  prison  for  larceny,  committed  in  New  York  City, 
and  it  was  learned  further  that  Stephen  Barrows 
had  been  the  lawyer  for  the  prosecution. 

The  "scene"  which  McLean  had  anticipated  was 
not  forthcoming.  The  girl  sat  forward  a  little,  one 
hand  grasping  the  arm  of  the  chair  rather  tightly,  but 
except  for  this  and  a  slight  compression  of  her  lips 
she  gave  no  sign  of  emotion. 

"  I  do  not  believe  that  he  is  dead,"  she  said  evenly. 
"  I  received  a  letter  from  him  about  six  months 
and  a  half  ago  —  it  was  postmarked  '  Tagish  ' — 
and  he  said  he  was  well,  and  happier  than  he  had 
ever  been  in  his  life.  He  didn't  say  why  —  but  his 


THE  TANG  9 

letter  was  different,  somehow,  than  any  I  had  ever 
received  from  him  before.  There  was  some  new 
note  in  it  —  some  undercurrent  —  of  happiness. 
It  was  that,  I  believe,  which  finally  decided  me  to 
come  here.  I  wanted  to  find  some  of  what  he  had 
put  in  that  letter.  I  still  believe  I  shall  find  it  — 
and  him!  " 

At  the  mention  of  the  letter,  McLean's  eyes  had 
brightened  and  he  leaned  forward  with  unconcealed 
interest. 

"  I  beg  you  not  to  give  up  the  search,"  the  girl 
went  on,  more  intensely,  "  but  if  you  do,  I  shall 
search  for  him  myself.  In  fact  I  believe  I  shall 
do  so  anyway.  There  is  really  no  reason  why  I 
should  not.  I  have  no  other  interest  in  the  world, 
and  I  should  love  it.  You  will  perhaps  help  me  — 
tell  me  how  to  go  about  it — " 

"  The  idea  is  absurd,"  interrupted  McLean. 
"  You  know  little  of  the  North  country  or  you  would 
realize  that.  White  women  in  this  region  travel 
seldom  —  and  never  alone.  You  must  remember 
that  you  are  alone." 

"  I  am,  indeed,"  replied  the  girl  firmly,  "  and  that 
is  precisely  why  I  am  determined  to  go  through  with 
my  idea.  I  shall  never  go  back  to  New  York  —  I 


io  THE  TANG 

knew  that  when  I  caught  my  first  glimpse  of  the 
Yukon.  Neither  shall  I  sit  back  and  wait  for  men, 
who  have  already  failed,  to  find  my  brother.  With 
them  it  is  a  mere  duty  —  I  believe  I  shall  find  him 
because  I  want  to  so  much." 

McLean  tapped  the  desk  impatiently. 

"  We  have  no  time  to  encourage  or  assist  a  search 
based  on  sentiment,  Miss  Barrows,"  he  said 
brusquely.  "  Practical  methods  bring  results,  here. 
What  you  suggest  is  impossible  —  utterly,  absolutely 
impossible.  We  will  resume  the  search.  Lisle  shall 
go  out  again,  alone.  In  the  meantime  you  may  wait 
in  Dawson — " 

Rising,  the  girl  interrupted  him. 

"  I  shall  not  wait  in  Dawson,"  she  said  evenly, 
her  eyes  meeting  his  with  resolution.  "  I  shall  not 
wait  —  anywhere.  I  shall  go  —  and  if  you  refuse 
to  help  me,  I  shall  go  without  your  help.  I  am  not 
afraid.  I  am  strong.  I  can  ride  and  shoot  —  and 
now  that  it  is  summer  — " 

The  Commissioner  rose  and  towered  above  her. 

"  Now  that  it  is  summer,"  he  repeated,  "  the  coun- 
try is  full  of  bogs  and  marshes  that  in  winter  are 
frozen  and  passable  with  snowshoes  and  sleds. 
Now  that  it  is  summer  the  men  who  are  hiding  from 


THE  TANG  n 

justice  have  come  out  of  their  caves  and  their  cabins 
and  are  wandering  everywhere,  in  search  of  easy 
prey. 

"  Women  do  such  things  as  you  suggest  in  books, 
perhaps,  that  make  good  reading  when  one  is  safe 
in  New  York  —  but  they  do  not  do  them  here. 

"  As  representative  of  the  Law,  I  forbid  you  to 
go!" 

The  girl's  eyes  did  not  flinch.  Their  shadows 
were  as  dark  as  the  blue  lights  on  her  hair. 

"  I  don't  believe  you  have  a  law  that  can  stop 
me !  "  she  challenged. 

Suddenly,  in  through  the  window  there  came  again 
the  howl  of  a  dog.  As  the  sound  reached  her  ears 
the  girl  started  and  turned  to  the  window. 

"Silver!"  she  cried — "I  was  sure — " 

"  Yes,"  said  McLean,  "  it's  Silver,  your  brother's 
dog.  He  added  another  killing  to  his  record  just 
before  Steve  left  for  the  last  time.  We  are  obliged 
to  keep  him  chained  as  no  one  can  approach  him. 
He  is  very  wild." 

The  girl's  eyes  glowed  and  she  pressed  her  hands 
together  excitedly. 

"  Yes,  yes,"  she  cried.  "  And  I  must  have  him 
—  at  once !  "  Then,  turning  to  McLean  with  tri- 


12  THE  TANG 

umph,  she  said,  "  Now  you  may  forbid  as  you  like 
—  for  it  will  do  you  no  good!  If  you  had  but 
known  that  my  brother  trained  that  dog  to  follow 
his  scent  you  might  have  found  him  long  ago !  And 
as  for  protection,  I  wouldn't  be  afraid  to  walk  into 
the  very  jaws  of  death  with  Silver.  Take  me  to 
him,  please." 

Without  a  word  McLean  crossed  to  the  door  and 
opened  it  for  her.  He  then  led  the  way  along  the 
hall  and  through  a  rear  door  into  a  small  courtyard. 

Chained  to  the  wall  at  the  further  end  was  the 
dog  called  Silver. 

He  was  a  cross  between  a  Mackenzie  Hound  and  a 
Labrador  Husky,  a  powerful  animal,  with  a  long 
silver-black  body,  a  wolf  head  and  eyes  and  fangs 
that  betrayed  the  fierceness  of  the  breed. 

Stephen  Barrows  had  bought  him  for  fifty  dollars 
from  a  Swede  trapper  on  a  trip  through  the  Klon- 
dike two  years  before  he  had  come  to  the  country  to 
stay. 

The  dog  had  an  unsavory  record  —  had  never 
exhibited  the  pride  of  trace  and  trail  —  but  had 
turned  on  his  driver  and  killed  him,  after  killing  five 
of  the  best  dogs  in  a  team  of  nine  —  and  the  Swede 
was  afraid  of  him. 


THE  TANG  13 

Steve  took  him  home,  muzzled,  mostly  as  a  sou- 
venir. With  much  patience  and  kindness  he  finally 
succeeded  in  winning  him  over  to  himself  and  Bar- 
bara—  and  by  steady  perseverance  he  taught  him 
to  follow  his  scent,  a  feat  seldom  attained  by  a 
husky. 

Twenty  minutes  later  McLean  and  Lisle  were 
again  alone  in  the  Commissioner's  office.  McLean 
stood  looking  out  of  the  window.  Clouds  of  smoke 
rolled  from  a  cigar  stuck  straight  into  the  middle  of 
his  hard  drawn  lips.  His  hands  were  thrust  deep 
into  his  pockets,  and  his  eyes  gleamed  with  the  light 
of  a  great  idea. 

"Tagish!"  he  muttered  as  though  to  himself  — 
"  six  months  ago  —  an'  Lisle  two  thousand  miles 
off  the  trail  scourin'  frozen  hell  for  'im.  The  nerve ! 
Seems  to  run  in  the  family.  But  if  you're  livin', 
Steve,  my  boy,  we'll  get  you  this  time!  An'  it's 
your  own  dog  —  an'  your  own  sister  that's  going  to 
do  it!" 

A  startled  expression  came  into  the  face  of  the 
younger  man  as  he  caught  the  words  of  his  chief 
and  the  full  significance  of  their  meaning. 


14  THE  TANG 

"  You're  not  going  to  let  her  go !  "  he  exclaimed. 

McLean  wheeled  and  faced  him. 

"  That's  just  exactly  what  I'm  going  to  do,"  he 
said,  and  then,  perhaps  because  of  the  expression  in 
the  other's  face,  he  added,  "  You  know  Barrows  is 
guilty.  He's  been  too  slick  for  us  so  far  —  but 
we'd  get  him  sooner  or  later  if  he's  alive  —  an' 
she'd  know  it  in  the  end.  This  way  is  quicker,  that's 
all  —  so  what's  the  difference?  " 

"  The  difference  of  fair  play  and  foul,"  replied 
Lisle  slowly,  his  eyes  leveling  with  his  chief's. 

McLean's  voice  was  hard  as  he  answered. 

"  There  is  no  such  difference  in  the  Law,"  he 
snapped. 

"  The  girl  will  go  with  the  dog  and  an  Indian 
woman  —  Naomi,  probably.  You  will  follow  about 
a  mile  to  the  rear  —  out  of  sight,  of  course.  There 
will  be  a  signal  —  three  shots  fired  by  the  squaw  in 
case  of  danger  —  in  which  case  you  will  go  to  them. 
You  are  their  protection.  When  Barrows  is  found 
you  will  bring  him  back." 

A  flush  mounted  to  Lisle's  hair. 

"  In  that  case  /  wouldn't  be  getting  Barrows." 

"  You  went  after  him  before  with  a  dog-sled  and 


THE  TANG  15 

a  gun,"  replied  McLean.  "  This  time  you  will  use 
different  means  —  a  dog." 

"  And  a  woman !  "  added  Lisle.  "  I  prefer  the 
gun  —  and  a  horse." 

A  flush  of  anger  glowed  in  McLean's  eyes. 

"  Look  here,  Lisle,"  he  said  meaningly,  "  I  like 
you  —  I  don't  mind  saying  you're  about  the  best 
man  we've  got.  But  you  can  go  too  far,  you  under- 
stand? You're  under  orders!  You  were  sent  to 
get  Barrows.  You  didn't  get  him!  You  know 
what  that  means !  It's  you  or  Clinton." 

"  Clinton !  Good  God !  Clinton  —  and  that 
girl?" 

"Why  not?  Clinton  has  a  clean  record  in  the 
service  —  he's  a  little  crude,  perhaps  —  but  it  isn't 
culture  we  need  here." 

Lisle's  lips  were  drawn  tight,  For  a  moment 
steel  eyes  clashed  with  steel.  Then  something  else 
seemed  to  come  into  Lisle's.  It  reminded  McLean 
of  the  reflection  of  sunlight  on  the  snow. 

"  Well  ?  "  said  the  Commissioner  suggestively. 

The  young  officer  saluted. 

"  Your  orders,  sir !  "  he  said. 


CHAPTER  TWO 

And  so  it  came  to  pass  that,  on  one  of  the  first  soft 
mornings  of  June,  a  girl  whose  skin  was  whiter  than 
the  women  of  the  North  country,  and  who  sat  her 
saddle  with  the  lithe  grace  of  a  carefully  cultured 
flower,  rode  out  from  Dawson  due  northeast,  on  a 
strange  quest  —  stranger  than  she  knew ! 

The  trim  suit  of  navy  blue  serge  in  which  she 
had  arrived  in  Dawson,  had  been  abandoned  for 
khaki  riding  trousers  and  belted  coat  to  match,  and 
a  wide-brimmed  felt  hat  of  brown  cast  a  shadow  to 
just  above  the  tip  of  a  small  straight  nose.  From 
the  nose  the  shadow  followed  the  firm  curved 
cheeks,  and  between  them,  a  master  stroke  in  the 
lovely  portrait,  her  full  sweet  lips  smiled  at  the  new 
day. 

With  her,  at  the  head  of  the  pack  horses,  looming 
in  brilliant  relief  of  bronze  and  red  and  black 
against  the  gray-blue  dawn,  rode  Naomi,  the  Indian 
woman.  Close  beside  the  girl's  black  mare,  his  long 

16 


THE  TANG  17 

ears  laid  back,  the  joy  of  his  new-found  freedom 
straining  for  expression  in  each  of  his  powerful 
muscles,  ran  the  dog  Silver. 

A  mile  behind  them,  keeping  ever  out  of  sight, 
rode  a  tall  grim-eyed  man  in  the  uniform  of  the 
Mounted  —  a  man  whose  appointed  task  lay  heavy 
upon  his  heart. 

There  was,  however,  none  of  the  spirit  of  heavi- 
ness reflected  in  the  face  of  Barbara.  Buoyant  with 
the  conviction  that  finding  her  brother  would  be  a 
simple  matter  with  the  aid  of  the  dog,  and  glowing 
from  the  excitement  of  the  adventure  and  the  in- 
vigorating exercise,  she  fairly  radiated  happiness. 
Her  cheeks  were  flushed,  her  hair  became  disruly, 
short  strands  of  it  whipped  and  curled  across  her 
face,  and  her  wide  eyes  reflected  the  glory  of  the 
new  day.  Several  times,  turning  suddenly  in  some 
new  burst  of  enthusiasm,  she  caught  the  Indian 
woman  regarding  her  with  what  on  those  usually 
immobile  features  was  an  expression  of  unmistak- 
able admiration. 

But  Barbara  was  far  too  full  of  the  newness  of 
life  to  interpret  the  expression.  Admiration  had 
been  hers  ever  since  she  could  remember  —  but  here 
in  this  great  country,  stretching  before  her  in  one 


i8  THE  TANG 

wide  expanse  of  loveliness,  was  life  —  life  such  as 
she  had  read  and  her  brother  had  written  about, 
such  as  the  stuff  of  which  her  dreams  had  been  made. 

Ahead  of  them  stretched  plains  of  waving  grass 
dotted  with  wild-flowers,  and  far,  far  beyond  were 
the  hills  whose  snow-capped  tops  were  kissed  by 
tiny  pink  lips  of  cloud.  And  somewhere  out  there, 
deep  in  the  heart  of  it  all,  was  Steve! 

She  understood  now  what  she  had  sensed  between 
the  lines  of  his  letter.  It  would  be  in  hers  now,  if 
she  ever  stopped  just  living  long  enough  to  write  a 
letter ! 

The  thought  of  the  letter  connected  the  present 
with  the  past,  and  with  it  came  the  thought  of  Danny 
—  Danny  the  loving  and  the  lovable  —  Danny  the 
perfect  friend  —  and  the  girl's  face  became  serious 
for  a  moment  at  the  recollection. 

They  had  always  ridden  together,  through  the 
parks  of  the  city  —  on  bridle-paths  hedged  in  one 
one  side  by  automobiles  that  you  must  not  get  in 
front  of,  and  on  the  other  by  people  on  benches,  and 
baby-carriages,  which  you  must  not  step  on.  Once 
in  a  while  there  would  be  a  mile  or  two  which  left 
the  autos  and  the  baby-carriages,  and  then  they 
would  give  their  horses  rein  and  it  would  seem  to 


THE  TANG  19 

Barbara  that  that  was  the  nearest  she  had  ever  come 
to  the  fulfilment  of  her  dreams. 

And  sometimes  she  would  close  her  eyes  during 
that  short  run  and  imagine  that  they  were  galloping 
not  on  a  narrow  path  but  on  a  plain  —  a  great  roll- 
ing plain  that  stretched  away  before  them  clear  to 
the  very  rim  of  the  world  —  and  that  there  was 
nothing  beneath  the  sky  to  stop  them  from  riding 
on  and  on  until  they  came  to  it. 

And  again  would  come  the  illusion  that  the  man 
who  rode  beside  her  was  not  quite  Danny! 

She  wondered  now  whether  she  was  missing  him 
or  not.  Life  seemed  strangely  dull  without  him.  It 
would  have  been  nice  to  have  him  there  to  enjoy  it 
all  with  her.  And  yet  she  knew  that  although 
Danny  undoubtedly  would  enjoy  it,  after  they  had 
ridden  until  the  horses  were  tired,  Danny  would 
want  to  turn  around  and  go  back  —  back  to  a  warm 
cooked  dinner  in  a  comfortable  dining  room  —  back 
to  the  nearest  thing  he  could  get  to  the  hedged-in 
road! 

Yes,  she  missed  Danny,  but  it  was,  she  decided, 
in  a  resigned  sort  of  way  in  which  one  misses  that 
which  has  been  left  very,  very  far  behind  —  and 
which  one  expects  never  to  see  again. 


20  THE  TANG 

And  if  the  thought  of  the  ride  partly  convinced 
her  of  the  great  barrier  which  lay  between  Danny 
and  herself,  her  first  meal  cooked  in  the  open 
strengthened  and  sealed  the  conviction.  To  Bar- 
bara it  was  the  most  wonderful  meal  she  had  ever 
eaten.  To  Danny  it  would  have  been  something  to 
be  tolerated,  as  sometimes  necessary  but  unpleasant 
things  are  tolerated. 

They  had  ridden  about  thirty  miles  the  first  day, 
striking  the  North  Fork  of  the  Klondike  River 
shortly  before  sundown,  and  here  they  made  their 
first  camp. 

In  spite  of  a  perceptible  lameness,  her  inexhaust- 
ible enthusiasm  eager  for  any  new  phase  of  the  ad- 
venture, Barbara  insisted  on  helping  Naomi  to  un- 
pack, gather  sticks  and  stones  for  the  fire,  and  even 
in  preparing  the  meal.  The  culinary  methods  of  the 
Indian  woman  were  no  more  foreign  to  Barbara 
than  those  of  her  own  civilization,  as  her  experi- 
ence so  far  had  been  limited  to  brewing  tea.  For 
the  first  time  in  her  life  she  felt  a  pang  of  shame  at 
her  incompetency,  in  spite  of  Naomi's  insistence 
that  "  Mees  hands  too  white  to  cook." 

To  which  Barbara  replied,  somewhat  petulantly, 
"  They  will  not  be  so  white,  soon,  I  hope." 


THE  TANG  21 

Presently  the  darkness  came  and  with  it  the  stars, 
and  the  tension  of  the  excitement  which  had  been 
paramount  in  Barbara  all  during  the  day  gave  place 
to  another  sensation  which,  too,  was  a  part  of  this 
new  life.  It  crept  into  her  heart  and  shone  from 
her  eyes  as  she  gazed  across  and  above  the  campfire. 
It  was  peace  —  the  calm,  perfect  peace  of  a  night 
under  the  stars. 

"  Naomi,"  she  asked  after  awhile,  the  hush  of  the 
wonder  of  it  all  in  her  voice,  "  what  makes  the  stars 
so  bright  here?  I  never  saw  them  like  that." 

"  Men  would  say  it  is  the  clear  air,"  replied  the 
Indian  woman,  "  but  I  think  it  is  the  reflection  of 
Mees'  eyes." 

The  girl  laughed,  unconsciously  pleased  with  the 
compliment  from  one  so  taciturn. 

"  That  was  very  pretty,"  she  said.  "  I  wish  it 
might  be  true.  But  somehow  I  feel  very  small  — 
and  unnecessary." 

There  was  silence  for  awhile,  and  then  suddenly 
the  girl  stood  up  and  looked  back  in  the  direction 
from  which  they  had  come. 

"  Naomi,"  she  said,  "  what  is  that  light  I  see 
farther  back  along  the  river?  " 

Naomi  sat  hunched  in  her  blankets,  blinking  sleep- 


22  THE  TANG 

ily  at  the  fire.  She  did  not  turn  her  eyes  from  the 
flames  as  she  answered. 

"  It  is  the  light  of  other  camp-fire,  Mees." 

The  girl  stood  watching  it  for  several  minutes, 
then  turning  she  saw  Naomi's  head  sinking  lower 
and  lower  and  her  dark  eyes  struggling  to  keep  open. 

"  Come,"  she  said,  "  we  will  go  to  bed  —  or  to 
blanket  or  whatever  you  call  it.  I  believe  I  am 
very  tired  —  but  I'm  not  a  bit  sleepy.  It  seems  al- 
most too  bad  to  sleep  —  and  waste  all  this !  " 

For  hours  she  lay  staring  straight  up  at  the  sky, 
her  imagination  racing  ahead  into  the  days  of  their 
journey  to  follow  —  wonderful  days  of  riding  and 
nights  of  sleeping  under  the  stars.  She  almost 
hoped  that  they  would  not  find  Steve  for  quite 
awhile,  never  believing  but  that  he  was  safe  and 
happy,  for  she  wondered  how  anyone  could  be  any- 
thing else  in  such  a  place. 

Suddenly  she  thought  of  the  other  camp-fire  again, 
and,  sitting  up  softly,  she  looked  back.  It  was  still 
there,  only  fainter  now. 

"  Guess  he's  sleeping,"  she  thought  as  she  dropped 
back  again,  and  then  she  laughed  softly  to  herself. 

"  Silly,"  she  murmured  drowsily,  "  I  believe 
I'm  actually  getting  romantic  over  the  only  other 


THE  TANG  23 

sign  of  life  in  sight.     And  he's  probably  a  homely 
old  trapper  —  or  maybe  an  Indian  —  or  maybe  a 

—  he's  probably  a  homely  —  wouldn't  it  be  funny 

—  but  no,  he's  probably  — " 

But  the  man  by  the  other  campfire  was  not  sleep- 
ing. He  was  sitting  by  his  dying  fire,  staring  into 
it  —  but  he  did  not  see  it.  He  saw  a  girl,  slim, 
sweet,  with  eyes  like  the  shadows  on  the  snow  —  and 
hair  the  color  of  the  sky  that  stretched  above  him  — 
and  he  heard  again  the  words  of  his  chief, 

"  This  time  you  will  use  different  means."  And 
for  the  first  time  in  his  life  he  doubted  the  infalli- 
bility of  man-made  law1. 

Presently  he  turned  and  looked  on  to  where  he 
could  see  the  last  faint  glow  of  her  campfire. 

"  God  forgive  me,"  he  said  softly,  as  though  con- 
signing the  case  to  a  higher  court,  "  but  I  almost 
hope  you  won't  find  him !  " 

The  first  rays  of  the  sun  awoke  Barbara.  Naomi 
had  prepared  breakfast,  fed  and  watered  the  horses, 
and  was  now  engaged  in  throwing  pieces  of  meat  to 
Silver,  who  eyed  her  suspiciously  as  he  advanced, 
stiff-legged  and  bristling,  to  pick  them  up. 


24  THE  TANG 

Barbara  had  warned  her  to  pay  no  attention  to  the 
dog  and  to  keep  away  from  him  as  much  as  possible 
except  to  feed  him,  believing  that  through  this 
medium  he  might  become  reconciled  to  the  woman. 

And  except  at  such  times,  the  dog  in  turn  paid  no 
attention  to  Naomi.  She  was  obviously  a  part  of 
the  things  which  belonged  to  his  mistress,  to  whom 
he  was  now  loyal  as  only  a  dog  can  be  —  and  as 
such  he  tolerated  her. 

The  second  day  was  hot  and  sultry,  and  the  horses 
showed  visible  signs  of  fatigue  when  they  stopped 
to  lunch  beneath  a  clump  of  spruces  near  a  small 
stream  of  spring  water.  Naomi  suggested  that  they 
rest  here  a  few  hours,  and  Barbara  took  advantage 
of  the  opportunity  to  exercise  her  stiffened  knees  and 
to  explore  in  the  direction  of  the  source  of  the 
stream. 

She  had  not  gone  far  when  she  came  upon  a  well- 
worn  trail  which  led  in  the  direction  of  the  water. 
An  experienced  eye  would  have  recognized  the  nature 
of  the  trail,  but  to  Barbara  it  was  but  one  more 
beckoning,  enchanted  finger  of  this  wonderland. 

Scarcely  knowing  why  she  did  so,  she  slackened 
her  steps  and  moved  almost  silently  as  she  came  to 
the  opening  in  the  trees  which  led  to  the  stream. 


THE  TANG  25 

And  just  before  she  stepped  into  it  her  eyes  fell  upon 
a  sight  which  turned  her  rigid. 

On  the  bank,  not  more  than  ten  yards  away  from 
her,  was  a  large  brown  bear  and  one  small  round 
cub. 

The  soft  hot  breeze  was  blowing  from  the  bear 
to  Barbara  and  the  sound  of  her  approach  had  been 
drowned  in  the  noise  of  the  running  water.  The 
cub  was  wandering  aimlessly  about,  mostly  in  cir- 
cles, sniffing  and  pawing  curiously  at  everything  in 
sight.  The  mother  was  clawing  a  piece  of  rotted 
driftwood  and  now  and  then  snatching  at  some 
insect  with  her  long  curved  front  claws. 

As  Barbara  leaned  forward  in  her  fascination,  a 
stick  cracked  under  her  foot  and  the  bear  raised  her 
head  and  began  to  sniff  the  air.  Slowly  she  turned 
to  where  Barbara  stood  transfixed  and  seemingly 
unable  to  move,  and  for  a  long  second  these  two 
beautiful  representatives  of  the  highest  civilization 
and  the  wildest  of  the  wild  stared  at  one  another. 

The  bear  made  the  first  move.  With  a  low, 
startled  whine  she  turned  and  ran  to  her  cub,  bundled 
him  unceremoniously  between  her  forelegs,  shoved 
him  into  the  stream  ahead  of  her,  and  holding  him  so 
that  his  little  nose  and  mouth,  the  latter  squealing 


26  THE  TANG 

with  surprise  and  alarm,  were  just  above  the  water, 
she  kicked  out  with  her  powerful  hind  legs  and 
swam  rapidly  to  the  opposite  shore,  crashing  with 
him  into  the  underbrush. 

For  a  full  minute  after  the  bear  and  her  cub  had 
disappeared,  Barbara  stood  looking  after  her,  her 
lips  parted  and  her  eyes  wide  with  excitement.  She 
had  a  queer  sense  of  wondering  why  it  had  been  the 
bear  that  had  run  first.  Then  she  turned  and  ran 
back  to  camp  —  and  as  she  ran  she  remembered 
vaguely  that  one  of  the  animal's  ears  had  been  half 
torn  away  —  by  a  shot,  sometime,  she  thought. 

Naomi  listened  stolidly  to  the  girl's  breathless 
description,  and  without  comment  unstrapped  her 
rifle  from  her  saddle  and  started  in  the  direction  of 
the  trail. 

Barbara  sprang  forward  in  alarm. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do?"  she  cried,  laying 
a  detaining  hand  on  the  woman's  arm. 

"  Kill  him  bear,  mebbe,"  replied  Naomi,  "  bear- 
skin warm  winter  coat." 

"  But  we  don't  need  it,"  cried  the  girl,  "  oh,  no, 
Naomi,  you  must  not  do  it!  If  you  had  but  seen 
them  — " 

"  Winter  come  two  months  —  mebbe  we  no  find 


THE  TANG  27 

brother  —  bear  skin  make  warm  coat,"  insisted 
Naomi. 

But  Barbara  was  firm.  The  mother  bear  and  her 
cub  had  impressed  the  girl  deeply  —  and  uncon- 
sciously she  had  learned  her  first  lesson  of  the  wild 
—  the  lesson  which  is  so  apparent  to  those  who 
can  read  it  —  of  when  to  kill  and  when  not  to 
kill. 

"  You  must  not  do  it !  "  she  repeated,  and  the  In- 
dian woman  recognized  the  tone  of  authority. 

But  Naomi  had  the  chance  to  use  her  rifle  later  on 
in  the  afternoon,  and  this  time  Barbara  did  not  stop 
her.  About  sundown  a  wedge  of  wild  ducks  drove 
directly  over  them. 

The  two  women  watched  them  as  they  wheeled 
and  flew  back  a  mile. 

"  They  will  come  again,"  said  Naomi  as  she  un- 
strapped her  gun. 

Realizing  her  difference  in  feeling  toward  the 
present  situation,  and  somewhat  at  a  loss  to  under- 
stand it,  Barbara  said  thoughtfully, 

"  I  suppose  it's  not  so  bad  —  when  there  aren't 
any  —  cubs." 

As  she  spoke,  from  somewhere  to  their  rear  came 
three  muffled  shots,  and  two  of  the  birds  drifted 


28  THE  TANG 

slowly  down  to  earth.  Barbara  stood  in  her  stirrups 
and  looked  back. 

"  Did  you  see  that,  Naomi  ?  "  she  cried,  "  there  is 
someone  back  of  us  —  just  abcut  as  far  as  that  fire 
we  saw  last  night." 

"  Mebbe  trappers,"  replied  Naomi,  poising  her 
rifle  in  readiness  as  she  waited  for  the  birds  to  drive 
over  again. 

As  she  spoke  there  came  another  series  of  shots, 
but  this  time  to  the  left  of  them,  and  one  of  the 
birds  dropped. 

Naomi  lowered  her  rifle  and  looked  intently  in 
the  direction  of  the  last  shots.  In  a  moment  they 
were  repeated,  but  the  ducks  were  not  touched. 
They  swerved  a  little  to  the  right,  and  as  they  passed 
directly  over  the  heads  of  the  women  once  more, 
Naomi  strapped  her  gun  to  its  place. 

"  You  changed  your  mind  ?  "  inquired  Barbara. 

"  Yes,"  replied  Naomi,  gathering  up  her  r^ins, 
"  too  many  trappers  not  good." 

And  so,  through  a  glorious  sunny  week,  they 
traveled  on  across  level  country,  around  the  foot- 
hills in  which  the  Blackstone  and  the  Hart  Rivers 
began,  making  an  average  of  thirty  miles  a  day  and 


THE  TANG.  29 

encountering  their  first  mountain  climbing  around 
the  source  of  the  Wind  .River.  They  crossed  the 
stream  at  its  shallow  end  and  finally  arrived  at  a 
small  lake,  from  which  flowed  the  Bonnet  Plume. 

There  was  no  definite  plan  to  their  wanderings. 
Naomi's  instruction  had  been  to  follow  the  easiest 
trails  and  to  give  the  dog  the  lead  if  he  showed  any 
signs  of  having  discovered  the  familiar  scent. 

Barbara  had  taken  with  her  a  coat  which  Steve 
had  left  at  headquarters.  Every  morning  just  be- 
fore they  started  out  she  held  it  before  Silver's  nose. 
When  he  had  sniffed  at  it  and  then  pranced  about 
it  excitedly,  whining  and  looking  up  into  her  face 
with  obvious  eager  questioning,  she  would  jump  into 
her  saddle,  urge  the  mare  into  a  gallop,  and  cry, 

"  Come  on,  Silver !  Come !  Find  him !  Find 
him!" 

The  dog  understood.  He  understood  that  this 
mistress  of  his  was  looking  for  his  master  —  and 
that  she  was  depending  upon  him  to  help  her.  And 
so,  from  the  time  they  broke  camp  in  the  morning 
until  they  made  it  again  at  night,  Silver's  sensitive 
nose  skimmed  the  ground  in  search  of  the  beloved 
scent. 

And  more  and  more  often  he  would  desert  the 


30  THE  TANG 

camp  at  night,  scouting  about  in  the  foothills,  ever 
in  search  of  the  trail.  At  times  other  scents  would 
cross  his  path  —  those  of  creatures  of  the  wild  — 
and,  when  the  scent  was  to  his  liking,  he  would  hunt 
down  the  maker  of  it  and  bring  his  offering  to  the 
feet  of  his  mistress.  And  when  Barbara  would 
scold  him,  Naomi  would  say, 

"  It  is  the  wolf  that  kills  —  it  is  the  dog  which 
brings  back.  Mees  cannot  tame  the  wolf.  Mebbe 
some  day  she  be  glad  for  that." 

And  one  night,  as  they  stretched  in  their  blankets 
on  the  shore  of  the  lake,  Barbara  remembered  the 
words  of  the  Indian  woman.  For  there  broke  across 
the  silence,  so  near  that  she  sat  bolt  upright,  a  long 
piercing  wail  so  like  a  death  or  torture  cry  that  the 
girl's  blood  seemed  to  freeze  in  her  veins. 

With  fangs  bared,  bristling,  quivering,  Silver 
sprang  up  and  stood  staring  into  the  darkness. 
Then  as  the  sound  came  again,  nearer,  he  bolted  off 
and  did  not  return  until  dawn. 

"  It  is  the  wolf,"  said  Naomi's  voice  from  the 
blankets,  "  the  lobo-wolf.  It  is  not  harm." 

Barbara  was  about  to  drop  down  again,  when 
back  in  the  direction  from  which  they  had  come  she 
saw  a  light  —  and  far  beyond  it,  faint  but  unmis- 


THE  TANG  31 

takable,  was  another.  As  she  looked,  two  more 
attracted  her  —  one  to  the  right  of  the  lake,  and  the 
other  to  the  left. 

For  the  first  time  the  fear  of  the  unknown  crept 
over  her,  and  she  slipped  back  into  the  blankets  and 
pulled  them  up  over  her  ears,  like  a  child  afraid  of 
the  dark. 

And  on  the  following  night,  as  though  some 
subtle  turn  in  the  events  of  their  journey  had  come 
with  the  wail  of  the  lobo  wolf  and  the  mysterious 
lights,  two  things  happened  which  to  Barbara  were 
far  more  disquieting. 

The  night  was  unusually  dark,  and  the  stars  were 
hidden  by  swift  moving  clouds.  They  were  camped 
in  an  open  space  halfway  between  the  lake  and  the 
foothills  around  the  Peel  River. 

Barbara  was  sitting  cross-legged  before  the  fire, 
poking  the  embers  with  a  stick,  one  arm  flung  across 
the  shaggy  neck  of  Silver,  who  had  been  strangely 
restless  all  the  evening,  pushing  his  nose  here  and 
there  into  the  soft  grass  and  whining  softly. 

Suddenly  the  stick  dislodged  something  from  the 
soft  loam  near  the  fire.  Barbara  picked  it  up  and 
wiped  it  on  the  grass. 


32  THE  TANG 

It  was  a  black  leather  cardcase  —  and  the  girl 
stared  at  the  name  engraved  upon  it  with  eyes  sud- 
denly grown  wide  with  surprise  and  consternation. 

"  Roth !  "  she  cried  aloud.     "  Roth !  —  here!  " 

She  sat  holding  it  as  though  it  were  indeed  some 
loathed  thing,  repeating  the  name  over  again. 

"  Herbert  Roth  —  here! " 

As  she  sat  thus,  Silver  sprang  suddenly  from  be- 
neath her  arm  and  stood  snarling  and  sniffing  the  air. 

Naomi  turned  her  head  in  the  direction  the  dog 
was  facing,  and  listened. 

"  Someone  comes,"  she  said,  "  Mees  better  hold 
dog." 

With  an  effort  the  girl  aroused  her  attention  from 
the  card-case.  She  twisted  her  fingers  in  the  long 
hair  of  Silver's  neck  and  called  to  him  sharply. 

As  she  did  so  the  sound  of  a  horse's  feet,  running, 
became  audible,  then  louder  —  and  after  a  moment 
in  which  Barbara's  heart  seemed  to  stand  still,  a 
man  rode  out  of  the  blackness,  and  swung  to  the 
ground  into  the  circle  of  the  firelight. 

"  Good  evening,"  he  said,  "  this  is  indeed  an  un- 
expected pleasure !  " 

Not  only  the  words,  but  the  manner  in  which  they 


THE  TANG  33 

were  spoken  seemed  entirely  out  of  place.  The 
voice  was  soft,  refined,  and  possessed  an  unmistak- 
able English  accent,  and  the  gesture  which  accom- 
panied them  was  worthy  of  a  courtier. 

The  man's  face  was  one  of  the  handsomest  Bar- 
bara had  ever  seen.  Set  in  features  of  symmetric 
beauty  were  eyes  that  were  as  startlingly  black  as 
his  teeth  were  startlingly  white.  His  thick  black 
hair  was  combed  with  precision,  he  was  clean-shaven 
except  for  a  slight,  carefully  trimmed  mustache,  and 
his  physique  was  such  that  any  man  might  envy. 

It  was  his  attire,  however,  which  was  the  most 
astonishing  of  all. 

He  wore  the  red  pea-jacket  of  the  uniform  of 
the  Mounted  with  the  three  gold  stripes  of  a  ser- 
geant on  the  sleeve.  Over  his  trousers  were  a  pair 
of  sheep-skin  chaps  and  the  cap  he  held  in  his  hand 
was  an  English  tweed. 

Under  any  other  circumstances  Barbara  would 
have  been  impelled  to  laugh,  but  there  was  that  about 
the  superb  air  of  the  man  which  forbade  it. 

Apparently  he  read  the  girl's  thoughts,  for  with  a 
slight  laugh  and  a  straightening  jerk  to  the  jacket, 
he  said, 


34  THE  TANG 

"  I  see  you  are  admiring  my  outfit.  I'm  rather 
inclined  to  variety  —  and  souvenirs.  May  I  sit 
down?" 

Without  waiting  for  the  permission  he  dropped  to 
the  grass,  and  Barbara  noted  the  grace  which  ac- 
companied the  movement.  As  he  spread  his  hands 
to  the  fire,  an  action  altogether  unwarranted  owing 
to  the  warmth  of  the  night,  she  was  further  mysti- 
fied to  observe  that  they  were  spotlessly  clean,  as 
were  also  the  strong  evenly  clipped  nails  which 
tipped  them. 

He  was  indeed  a  surprising  deviation  from  what 
she  might  have  expected  their  first  meeting  in  the 
wilderness  to  be. 

"  Introductions,"  he  said,  "  are  undoubtedly  in 
order.  At  least  judging  from  what  I  can  remember 
from  the  balmy  days  '  outside.'  Therefore  permit 
me  —  I  am  Lord  Harold  Hope,  of  the  County  of 
Surrey,  England,  first  Earl  of  Greycliffe,  gentleman 
by  birth,  adventurer  by  choice,  outlaw  by  circum- 
stance —  a  conglomeration  only  surpassed  by  my 
attire  —  and  I  am  here  in  search  of  my  tooth-brush. 
I  dropped  it  from  my  coat  pocket  during  an  argu- 
ment with  a  gentleman  on  this  exact  location.  Have 
you,  by  any  chance,  come  across  it?  " 


THE  TANG  35 

The  audacity  of  the  man  was  followed  by  such  a 
good-natured  smile  that  it  was  entirely  disarming. 
For  the  first  time  he  turned  and  looked  Barbara  full 
in  the  eyes.  And  if  she  had  expected  to  obtain  any 
clue  to  the  man  through  these  "  windows  of  his 
soul "  she  was  disappointed.  The  eyes  which  met 
hers  were  utterly  frank  and  without  guile.  Surely 
there  could  be  no  evil  behind  such  a  gaze,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  he  had  included  "  outlaw  "  in  his  in- 
troduction. 

The  girl  felt  a  little  glow  of  excitement  surge 
through  her  once  more.  Perhaps  this  man  was  one 
of  those  "  adventurers  by  choice  "  who  open  them- 
selves to  circumstantial  evidence  more  than  the 
average  man  by  very  reason  of  their  adventuresome- 
ness,  and  are  oftentimes  convicted  by  it.  She  felt 
her  interest  in  him  strengthen,  and,  with  a  little 
inward  catch  of  relief,  she  laughed  outright  and  re- 
plied to  his  inquiry  in  the  negative.  Then  to  the 
dog,  "Down,  Silver!" 

For  the  first  time  Lord  Harold  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  the  snarling  animal.  "  Cute  little  lap  dog," 
he  remarked.  "  Doesn't  seem  to  care  for  me.  Won- 
der if  it's  my  name,  my  attire,  or  personality,  which 
offends  him  the  most?" 


36  THE  TANG 

"  He  doesn't  care  for  strangers." 

Suddenly  Naomi  spoke.  Her  black  eyes  were  riv- 
eted on  the  man's  face  and  her  voice  was  shaken 
with  unconcealed  emotion. 

"  Lord  Harold  not  stranger,"  she  said  slowly. 
"Lord  Harold  better  —  go!" 

With  a  start  the  man  turned  and  looked  at  her 
intently,  and  in  the  fraction  of  a  second  which  fol- 
lowed a  change  came  over  his  face.  His  profile  be- 
ing turned  to  her,  Barbara  did  not  get  its  full  affect, 
but  she  sensed  it.  It  was  only  for  a  moment,  how- 
ever. With  absolute  composure,  and  ignoring 
Naomi  completely,  he  turned  to  the  girl  again  —  and 
once  more  the  limpid,  guileless  eyes  looked  into 
hers. 

"  The  squaw  appears  to  agree  with  the  dog,"  he 
said,  "  and  you  ?  " 

Before  Barbara  could  reply,  Naomi  arose  and 
faced  him. 

"  Squaw  agree  with  dog  —  Mees  agree  with 
squaw.  Lord  Harold  better  go!" 

The  man  looked  up  into  the  stolid  face  and  caught 
the  glint  of  something  which  the  brown  hand  cov- 
ered. With  a  shrug  and  a  short  laugh  he  rose  to  his 
feet. 


THE  TANG  37 

"  I  yield  to  the  majority,"  he  said,  "  and  to  the 
will  of  the  gun  —  and  the  beautiful  young  lady. 
Besides,  it's  getting  late  and  I  have  another  call  to 
make.  May  we  meet  again?  " 

"  It  best  we  not  meet  again !  "  came  the  voice  of 
Naomi. 

With  mock  courtesy  Lord  Harold  turned  to  the 
Indian  woman  and  bowed  low. 

"  We  shall  meet  again!  "  he  said  deliberately,  then 
to  Barbara,  "  Adios !  " 

He  turned  and  swung  into  his  saddle,  bowed  to 
the  girl  with  a  wide  sweep  of  his  cap,  patted  his 
horse  on  the  neck  and  galloped  off  into  the  night. 

"  Naomi,"  said  Barbara,  "  why  were  you  so  dis- 
turbed—  and  why  did  you  order  him  away  so 
rudely.  Who  is  he?" 

"  Outlaw,"  said  Naomi  laconically  as  she  settled 
herself  once  more  before  the  fire. 

"  What  has  he  done  ?  "  persisted  Barbara  in  spite 
of  the  woman's  obvious  reluctance  to  give  her  any 
information. 

"  He  is  a  thief,"  replied  Naomi  slowly,  her  dark 
eyes  burning  with  emotion,  "  he  is  a  robber  of  furs 
and  of  horses  —  of  cattle  —  of  the  heart's  blood  of 
men  —  and  of  the  hearts  of  women!" 


38  THE  TANG 

Long  into  the  night  Barbara  lay  inside  the  tiny 
tent  which  they  had  put  up  for  the  first  time,  on  ac- 
count of  the  lowering  clouds,  thinking  of  their 
strange  visitor  —  the  murderer  with  the  eyes  of  a 
child,  the  cardcase  with  the  name  of  Herbert  Roth 
upon  it,  and  the  four  mysterious  lights.  The  inci- 
dents and  the  facts  connected  with  them  passed 
through  her  mind  like  the  figures  of  a  kaleidoscope, 
forming  never  the  same  pattern. 

Undoubtedly  one  of  the  four  campfires  had  be- 
longed to  Lord  Harold.  Did  one  of  the  others  be- 
long to  Herbert  Roth  —  the  one  perhaps  which 
seemed  to  appear  always  about  the  distance  of  a 
mile  behind  them?  Was  Roth  following  them? 

A  strange  fear  gripped  at  her  heart  as  she  thought 
of  this. 

Again,  was  Roth  the  one  on  whom  Lord  Harold 
was  going  to  "  call  "  and  was  he  the  one  with  whom 
the  outlaw  had  had  the  "  argument "  ?  The  card- 
case  would  make  this  seem  likely.  And  why  was 
Roth  here  at  all  ? 

With  a  start  she  thought  of  the  red  coat  with  the 
three  gold  stripes.  To  whom  had  the  coat  belonged  ? 
The  chaps  —  and  the  cap  ?  She  shuddered  as  she 
remembered  the  man's  reference  to  souvenirs  —  and 


THE  TANG  39 

Naomi's  words,  "  a  thief  of  the  heart's  blood  of 
men!" 

And  where  and  who  were  the  women  whose  hearts 
this  handsome,  innocent-eyed  murderer  had  stolen? 

Suddenly,  very  faint  and  far  away,  but  not  to  be 
mistaken,  came  the  sound  of  three  shots  —  a  pause 
and  the  shots  were  repeated.  Barbara  got  up,  went 
to  the  tent  flap  and  looked  in  the  direction  from 
which  the  sounds  came. 

Behind  them  in  exactly  the  same  distance  as  be- 
fore was  the  light  of  a  campfire  —  and  beyond  to  the 
left  of  it,  was  another  —  and  there  was  a  third  off 
towards  the  extreme  right. 

"  Naomi !  "  she  called  softly  as  though  fearing  to 
attract  some  unseen  peril,  "  Naomi !  there  were  shots 
again !  —  and  the  lights  —  they  are  the  same  distance 
as  before !  Could  someone  be  following  us  ?  " 

There  was  no  answer.  The  girl  turned  to  where 
the  blankets  of  the  Indian  woman  lay  stretched  be- 
fore the  fire  —  empty ! 


CHAPTER  THREE 

John  Lisle  was  an  American,  from  a  small  town 
in  Vermont.  College-bred,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
three,  he  had  become  interested  in  the  subject  of 
mining,  and  after  a  training  in  the  theory,  had  taken 
a  trip  to  Alaska  with  the  intention  of  following  up 
his  inclination  for  a  year  or  two  of  actual  participa- 
tion. 

In  Nome  he  had  met  one  Brewster,  a  veteran  of 
the  Mounted,  whose  remaining  days,  now  that  he  had 
long  passed  the  age  limit  of  the  service,  were  conse- 
crated to  expounding  its  merits,  advantages,  and 
heroism. 

Lisle's  initial  mining  experiments  having  proved 
unsuccessful,  he  had  been  slowly  won  from  a  mild 
and  somewhat  amused  interest  in  the  tales  told  by 
the  old  man,  to  an  impelling  desire  to  join  the  force. 

Accordingly  he  had  left  for  the  Yukon  country, 
and  for  three  years  had  traveled  with  detachments 
or  alone,  the  trails  of  fugitives  of  the  law. 

40 


THE  TANG  41 

In  his  second  year  he  had  been  advanced  to  "  Ser- 
geant." 

As  the  length  of  his  service  had  increased,  so  had 
his  love  for  the  big  free  life  which  it  compelled  and 
for  the  adventure  which  the  dangers  of  it  involved. 
The  narrow  life  of  his  home  town  became  a  half 
forgotten  thing;  and  the  life  of  the  cities,  to  which 
the  particular  phase  of  the  mining  business  in  which 
he  had  been  interested  would  eventually  have  led 
him,  seemed  now  like  a  prison  sentence  from  which, 
somehow,  he  had  miraculously  escaped. 

Also,  with  his  experience  had  come  a  respect  and 
regard  for  the  oath  under  which  he  was  bound  which 
amounted  almost  to  reverence,  and  as  had  so  many 
other  splendid  men,  he  had  consecrated  to  this  oath 
his  heart  and  his  life. 

Not  until  the  day  when  his  chief  had  sent  him 
out  on  the  trail  of  Stephen  Barrows  for  the  second 
time  had  he  for  a  single  instant  doubted  the  per- 
fection of  the  thing  for  which  that  oath  stood. 

Even  now  it  could  hardly  be  said  that  he  doubted 
it.  If  there  was  a  flaw  he  felt  that  it  was  in  the 
manner  of  the  execution  of  the  law  and  not  in  the 
law  itself.  He  knew  that  McLean  had  done  nothing 
unlawful  in  sending  this  girl  out  in  search  of  her 


42  THE  TANG 

brother,  even  under  such  circumstances.  The  law 
was  full  of  regretful  circumstances  —  was  often 
obliged  to  use  them  to  gain  its  ends  —  and  it  should 
not  be  merely  the  gray-blue  eyes  of  a  girl  that 
should  change  that. 

But  it  seemed  to  Lisle  that  McLean  should  have 
told  this  girl  the  whole  truth,  and  then  should  have 
given  her  the  sporting  chance  of  searching  for  her 
brother  with  the  dog  if  she  wished,  at  the  same  time, 
of  course,  using  every  effort  on  the  law's  behalf,  but 
independently  and  with  his  own  men. 

But  as  much  as  he  disliked  his  task,  Lisle  was 
thankful  that  it  was  he  and  not  Clinton  who  had 
been  appointed  the  girl's  protector.  He  knew  noth- 
ing against  the  man,  but  all  during  the  two  years  in 
which  they  had  been  together  in  the  service  he  had 
felt  the  instinctive  aversion  that  a  man  who  looks 
straight  into  the  eyes  of  those  to  whom  he  speaks 
feels  toward  one  who  does  not. 

Moreover,  Clinton's  attitude  on  the  subject  of 
women  irritated  Lisle.  It  was  not  one  to  inspire 
respect,  or  confidence,  even  though  the  man's  asso- 
ciation with  them  apparently  was  limited  to  an  occa- 
sional chuck  under  the  chin  or  a  lunch  counter  con- 
versation with  a  shop-girl  or  waitress. 


THE  TANG  43 

Again,  there  was  something  rather  pleasing  about 
the  thought  of  being  this  girl's  protector.  Back  in 
the  little  Vermont  town  there  had  been  a  girl  with 
eyes  very  like  hers  —  except  that  those  had  been  al- 
ways laughing,  tantalizing,  challenging,  like  the  wide 
bright  wings  of  a  blue  butterfly  —  always  poised  for 
flight  and  tempting  him  to  follow  —  while  this  girl's 
were  grayer,  graver  —  like  shadows  on  the  snow. 

The  first  week  and  a  half  of  the  journey  had 
passed  slowly  to  Lisle.  Taking  the  initiative  on  a 
trail  was  a  very  different  matter  from  following 
passively  after  those  who  were  to  do  the  work  which 
originally  had  been  cut  out  for  him.  There  was 
none  of  the  stimulating  interest  which  had  accom- 
panied his  former  search,  except  the  possible  chance 
of  being  of  service  to  the  girl  whose  trail  he  fol- 
lowed. 

During  the  first  week  he  had  encountered  no  one 
except  some  Indian  trappers  whom  he  had  passed 
with  a  momentary  greeting.  But  on  the  ninth  day 
out  he  had  been  attracted  by  the  appearance  of  a 
campfire  light  about  two  miles  to  his  rear,  and  again 
on  the  tenth  night  by  its  reappearance. 

When  on  the  following  night  the  light  appeared 


44  THE  TANG 

again,  Lisle  deadened  his  fire  and  circled  back  to 
investigate. 

Just  out  o'f  earshot  he  tied  his  horse  to  a  piece  of 
brush  and  crept  on  foot  to  within  about  twenty 
yards  of  the  fire  and  the  figure  which  sat  staring 
dejectedly  away  from  it  in  the  direction  of  Lisle's 
own. 

The  man  who  sat  thus  was  about  twenty-five,  long, 
slim,  and  well  built,  with  a  refined,  rather  sensitive 
face. 

"  Tenderfoot,"  thought  Lisle  as  he  observed  the 
tan  which  had  but  recently  left  the  "  burn  "  stage, 
and  the  slimness  of  the  hands  which  lay  across  the 
stranger's  knees. 

Lisle  went  back  a  few  paces  and  then  advanced 
again,  this  time  making  no  effort  to  silence  his  ap- 
proach. 

The  stranger  turned  sharply  at  the  sound  of  the 
footsteps.  Lisle  noted  that  he  did  not  reach  in- 
stinctively for  his  gun  as  would  a  man  who  was 
accustomed  to  the  ways  of  the  north  country. 

"  Evening,"  said  Lisle,  as  he  stepped  into  the 
circle  of  the  fire-light. 

The  stranger  jumped  up  and  the  expression  on  his 
face  arrested  Lisle's  attention  at  once.  It  was  with- 


THE  TANG  45 

out  fear,  wistful,  eager,  searching.  He  stared  at 
Lisle  for  a  moment  and  then  with  a  strange  break  in 
his  voice  reached  forward  and  grasped  the  young 
officer's  hands. 

"  For  God's  sake,"  he  cried,  "  come  and  talk  to 
me!" 

It  was  the  cry  of  a  man  utterly  lonesome  —  the 
cry  of  the  "  tenderfoot "  in  the  land  of  great  spaces. 

In  the  firm  clasp  of  their  hands  Lisle  measured 
his  man,  and  instinctively  he  felt  his  heart  go  out 
to  him.  He  may  have  been  influenced  somewhat 
by  his  own  loneliness  of  the  past  ten  days.  At  any 
rate  he  said : 

"  I'd  do  that  gladly.  But  unfortunately  I  cannot 
stay.  I  must  go  back  to  my  '  post '  by  yonder 
camp-fire.  But  I'd  be  glad  if  you'd  go  with  me." 

The  "  tenderfoot's "  pleasure  at  the  suggestion 
was  evident. 

"  Fine !  "  he  cried,  "  in  half  an  hour  more  I  would 
have  been  there  anyway.  I  was  just  thinking  about 
it  when  you  came.  I've  noticed  your  light  for  two 
or  three  nights  now  —  and  it's  infernally  lonesome 
in  this  place !  " 

"  It  is,"  replied  Lisle,  "  when  you're  not  used  to 
it." 


46  THE  TANG 

"  In  that  respect,"  said  the  other,  "  I  believe  I'm 
hopeless.  It  would  take  me  at  least  a  life-time  to 
accomplish  it."  He  began  to  deaden  the  fire  and 
pack  his  kit. 

The  stranger  was  obviously  an  experienced  rider, 
and  in  less  than  twenty  minutes  they  arrived  at 
Lisle's  camp.  Lisle  learned  that  the  tenderfoot's 
name  was  Blake  and  that  he  had  come  to  the  Yukon 
from  America  on  a  mission  which  for  various  rea- 
sons he  did  not  care  to  disclose.  Lisle  accepted  his 
reticence  with  a  like  attitude.  He  told  him  only 
that  he  was  on  the  trail  of  a  criminal. 

After  this  they  talked  of  the  two  countries  —  of 
the  North,  and  of  the  "  outside  " —  and  Blake  chat- 
ted on  with  the  boyish  eagerness  of  one  long  isolated 
from  his  fellowmen.  He  asked  many  questions  con- 
cerning the  life  of  the  police,  and  Lisle  found  him- 
self expounding  its  exploits  and  adventures  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  of  his  old  friend  Brewster. 

"  In  which  direction  does  your  trail  lie  to- 
morrow ? "  he  asked  as  they  sat  late  before  the 
fire. 

Blake  laughed  and  shrugged  his  shoulders. 

"  Heaven  knows,"  he  said,  "  I'm  rather  rudder- 
less. And  yours?" 


THE  TANG  47 

"  Across  to  the  Peel  foothills, —  I  think,"  Lisle 
replied,  looking  off  towards  a  faintly  glowing  light 
ahead  of  them. 

"  Want  to  come  along?  " 

"Just  that!  "  said  Blake,  laughing  as  though  re- 
lieved. "  I  was  afraid  you  might  want  to  —  chuck 
me.  And  if  you  did  I  might  almost  be  tempted  to 
turn  and  run  back  home." 

Lisle  laughed  and  stood  up.  A  light  far  to  the 
left  of  them  had  attracted  his  attention. 

"  Curiosity  being  an  asset  in  my  profession,"  he 
said,  presently,  "  guess  I'll  take  a  little  jaunt  in  the 
direction  of  yon  glow.  Keep  house  till  I  return, 
will  you?  " 

Lisle  rode  for  twenty  minutes,  keeping  his  horse 
below  a  run,  and  drew  up  about  thirty  paces  from 
the  camp-fire.  It  was  burning  brightly,  but  there 
was  no  one  in  sight.  Lisle  sat  silent  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, and  then,  satisfied  that  there  was  no  one 
about,  rode  up. 

Aside  from  a  recently  emptied  sardine  can  and  a 
burned  crust  of  bread  he  at  first  discovered  no  fur- 
ther trace  of  the  maker  of  the  camp.  But  as  he  was 
about  to  leave  he  saw  something  sharp  and  shiny  on 


48  THE  TANG 

the  ground  at  his  feet.  He  stooped  and  picked  up 
the  small  steel  blade  of  a  safety  razor. 

"  I  take  it  he  shaves,"  he  said  to  himself,  "  not 
much  of  a  clue." 

He  tossed  the  blade  back  on  the  grass.  As  he 
did  so  he  stopped  as  though  struck,  and  listened. 

Across  the  darkness  had  come  three  pistol  shots. 
A  pause  and  they  were  repeated  —  one  —  two  — 
three!  Lisle  leaped  for  his  horse  and  rode  at  top 
speed  in  the  direction  from  which  the  sounds  came 
—  the  direction  of  Barbara  Barrows'  camp-fire! 

Blake  sat  where  Lisle  had  left  him.  The  glad, 
eager  expression  which  had  been  in  his  eyes  during 
their  evening  together  had  gone  —  and  in  its  place 
was  one  that  was  almost  haggard  in  its  intensity  of 
sorrow  and  longing.  Across  his  inward  vision  there 
passed  dim,  lovely  pictures  —  pictures  of  another 
country  —  of  another  face. 

As  he  sat  thus,  his  horse  whinnied  softly  nearby. 
And  immediately  it  was  answered  by  another. 

Blake  sat  up  sharply.  If  Lisle  had  returned  he 
would  have  made  some  sound  —  and  there  was  no 
other  horse  near  but  Blake's  own. 

As  he  stepped  out  of  the  circle  of  light,  something 


THE  TANG  49 

moved  not  more  than  three  yards  ahead  of  him,  and 
as  his  eyes  became  accustomed  to  the  darkness  he 
distinctly  made  out  a  figure  jumping  to  the  back  of 
a  horse. 

Scarcely  knowing  why  he  did  so,  Blake  reached 
for  his  gun,  and  cried  out, 

"Who's  there?" 

The  figure  on  the  horse  did  not  reply,  but  Blake's 
movement  toward  the  gun  evidently  had  been  suffi- 
cient to  check  its  flight. 

"  Who's  there  ? "  repeated  Blake,  advancing 
slowly. 

"  Squaw,"  came  a  voice  from  the  figure.  It  was 
unmistakably  a  woman's  voice,  low  and  decidedly 
foreign. 

"What  do  you  want?"  asked  Blake,  replacing 
his  gun. 

"  Other  white  man  —  not  you,"  came  the  voice 
laconically,  "  squaw  make  mistake." 

Blake  was  about  to  ask  her  if  Lisle  was  the  man 
she  wanted,  but  thought  better  of  it. 

"  Is  there  anything  I  can  do  for  you  ?  "  he  asked, 
a  new  thought  striking  him. 

The  woman  did  not  reply  at  once.  Presently  she 
wheeled  her  horse  sharply. 


50  THE  TANG 

"  No,"  she  said  and  started  off. 

Blake  was  about  to  return  to  the  fire  when  three 
shots  rang  through  the  night.  He  scanned  the  dark- 
ness in  the  direction  from  which  they  came.  A 
light  twinkled  far  to  the  right  of  the  one  to  which 
Lisle  had  gone.  And  still  further  to  the  right  was 
another.  As  he  looked  the  shots  were  repeated. 

Blake  untied  his  horse  and  swung  into  the  saddle. 

"  It  might  be  —  it  might  be !  "  he  muttered  as  he 
rode. 

Barbara  stood  as  though  turned  to  stone,  staring 
at  the  empty  blankets.  She  was  utterly  alone.  The 
place  where  Silver's  long  body  had  flattened  the 
grass  was  deserted. 

In  that  moment  it  seemed  to  the  girl  that  she  was 
the  only  living  soul  in  the  whole  world  —  and  noth- 
ing short  of  that  actual  experience  could  have  pro- 
duced upon  her  any  greater  feeling  of  dread.  The 
blackness  beyond  the  fire-light  seemed  to  press  in 
upon  her  like  some  great  unhuman  thing  waiting  to 
devour  her,  and  beyond  were  the  eyes  of  the  creature 
—  three  tiny  specks  of  flame ! 

If  only  Silver  had  been  there !     Unconsciously  she 


THE  TANG  51 

was  more  alarmed  at  his  absence  than  at  that  of 
Naomi  —  not  but  what  she  believed  he  would  re- 
turn —  but  in  the  meantime  — 

How  long  she  stood  there  as  though  frozen,  star- 
ing straight  ahead  of  her  at  the  three  points  of  light, 
Barbara  never  knew.  But  after  what  seemed  to  be 
hours,  she  heard  the  sound  of  a  horse's  feet  coming 
rapidly  —  very  rapidly. 

Automatically  she  reached  for  the  small  Brown- 
ing which  was  strapped  to  her  belt  —  and  cocked  it 
in  the  direction  of  the  oncoming  hoof-beats. 

It  might  be  Naomi  —  and  it  might  not ! 

The  sounds  came  to  an  abrupt  stop  just  beyond 
her  vision,  and  someone  dropped  to  the  ground  and 
came  toward  her  across  the  grass. 

"  Who's  there  ?  "  she  called,  steadying  her  voice 
with  an  effort  and  raising  the  gun. 

"  A  friend,"  came  a  man's  voice  in  reply  —  and 
the  firelight  caught  first  the  brilliant  red  of  his  coat 
as  he  advanced. 

Barbara's  heart  gave  a  great  bound,  and  the  hand 
which  held  the  Browning  began  to  tremble  in  spite 
of  her  efforts. 

Lord  Harold  had  returned! 


52  THE  TANG 

As  Blake  galloped  on  through  the  darkness  he 
listened  intently  for  hoof-beats  ahead  His  inten- 
tion, vaguely  formed,  was  to  follow  the  Indian 
woman,  who  seemed  to  have  gone  in  the  same  direc- 
tion from  which  the  sound  of  the  shots  had  come. 

As  he  came  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the 
camp-fire,  which  had  been  to  their  extreme  right,  he 
saw  a  horse  and  rider  silhouetted  dimly  against  the 
glow. 

He  slackened  his  pace,  drew  rein  and  slipped  to 
Ac  grass,  proceeding  forward  slowly,  leading  the 
horse.  The  figure  ahead  of  him  had  done  the  same. 

The  Indian  woman  was  the  first  to  see  the  man 
who  lay  limply,  face  downward,  on  the  grass. 
With  a  startled  exclamation  she  ran  to  him  and 
turned  him  over,  scanning  his  face  anxiously.  Then 
with  a  gesture  of  relief  she  sank  to  her  knees  and 
laid  her  ear  upon  his  In-east 

The  man  wore  the  uniform  of  the  Mounted  — 
and  there  were  three  gold  stripes  upon  the  red  sleeve 
which  were  being  rapidly  dulled  by  a  dark  stream 
of  blood! 

The  man  who  faced  Barbara's  gun  was  not  Lord 
Harold.  With  a  gasp  of  relief  she  recognized  the 


THE  TANG  53 

tanned  face  of  the  young  Sergeant  she  had  passed 
in  the  door  of  McLean's  office  at  Dawson.  The 
hand  which  held  the  gun  dropped  to  her  side. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,"  he  was  saying.  "  I  heard 
shots  —  they  seemed  to  come  from  this  direction." 

"  Oh !  "  gasped  Barbara,  "  I'm  so  glad  it's  — 
you!" 

"  So  am  I,"  replied  Lisle,  smiling,  and  Barbara 
continued, 

"  I  heard  them  too  —  but  I  was  too  frightened  to 
be  able  to  tell  from  which  direction  they  came.  It 
is  all  very  strange  —  my  Indian  woman  has  gone  — 
and  my  dog.  They  disappeared  within  the  last  half 
hour." 

"  Gone !  "  repeated  Lisle,  amazed,  his  eyes  quickly 
taking  in  the  empty  blankets  and  the  spot  of  flattened 
grass. 

"  Yes,"  continued  the  girl,  her  wide  eyes  filled 
with  consternation  and  appeal,  "  we  had  a  caller  — 
an  outlaw — -who  introduced  himself  as  'Lord 
Harold '— " 

"  Lord  Harold !  "  interrupted  Lisle,  starting  vio- 
lently. "Good — "  then  checking  himself,  he  said 
gravely, 

"  You  must  tell  me  all  about  that  —  what  did  he 


54  THE  TANG 

say?  Which  way  did  he  go  when  he  left?  It  may 
have  a  lot  to  do  with  the  Indian  woman's  disappear- 
ance." 

"  He  said  he  came  in  search  of  his  toothbrush," 
replied  Barbara,  a  faint  smile  accompanying  her 
words  in  spite  of  the  seriousness  of  the  situation, 
"  which  he  had  dropped  during  an  argument  with  a 
gentleman  in  this  exact  location.  He  had  been  here 
only  about  five  minutes  when  Naomi  warned  him 
away  —  with  her  gun,  I  think,  although  I  did  not 
just  see  it.  She  seemed  to  know  all  about  him." 

"  Toothbrush,  eh,"  mused  Lisle,  and  then,  "  a  fas- 
tidious outlaw  —  he  was  clean  shaven,  was  he  not?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Barbara,  "  I  noticed  that  particu- 
larly —  also  his  spotless  hands  and  nails.  As  a 
specimen  of  outlaw  he  was  a  trifle  surprising." 

"  He's  a  bad  character,"  said  Lisle  gravely,  "  and 
I  have  no  doubt  is  directly  responsible  for  the  shots 
—  and  possibly  for  the  disappearance  of  Naomi. 
The  dog  appears  to  be  quite  able  to  take  care  of  him- 
self, judging  from  what  I  saw  of  him  at  Dawson." 

"  He  is,  indeed,"  answered  Barbara,  "  and  my 
only  fear  concerning  him  is  that  he  might  do  a  great 
deal  of  harm  to  the  spectacular  outlaw.  Silver  was 
unusually  disturbed  by  him.  I  had  to  hold  him  by 


THE  TANG  55 

force  —  and,  after  all,  the  man  is  human  —  and  I 
should  hate  to  think  — " 

"  Almost,  perhaps,"  interrupted  Lisle,  "  but  not 
quite.  Nothing  really  human  could  have  done  some 
of  the  things  he  has.  Personally,  I  admire  the  dog's 
keen  perception." 

"  The  shots,"  he  added,  "  must  have  been  further 
on  to  the  right.  I  must  investigate  —  but  I  don't 
like  to  leave  you  here  alone." 

"  I  don't  like  you  to,"  replied  Barbara  with  a 
nervous  attempt  at  a  laugh.  "If  I  ever  believed 
myself  to  be  brave,  I  am  thoroughly  disillusioned. 
I'm  scared  to  death,  and  if  you  leave  me  I  shall 
surely  dig  a  hole  in  the  ground  and  bury  myself  in 
it!" 

Lisle  laughed. 

"  Get  your  horse,"  he  said,  "  and  come  along.  If 
there's  any  trouble  you  can  at  least  run  and  hide  in 
the  darkness  and  leave  the  rest  to  me,  while  here 
you're  an  open  target  —  and  alone." 

Barbara  obeyed  immediately,  making  no  effort  to 
bind  up  the  heavy  dark  hair  which  clouded  about 
her  shoulders. 

"  '  A  woman's  crowning  glory  ' — "  thought  Lisle 
as  he  passed  behind  her  into  the  darkness. 


56  THE  TANG 

"  We'll  make  for  that  campfire,"  said  Lisle  as  they 
turned  their  horses  toward  the  left.  "  I  have  a 
hunch." 

They  rode  on  in  silence,  keeping  the  horses  down 
to  a  slow  trot,  their  hoofs  making  scarcely  any  sound 
on  the  thick  carpet  of  grass. 

When  they  came  within  thirty  paces  of  the  fire, 
Lisle  motioned  for  Barbara  to  stop. 

"  You  wait  here,"  he  said  as  he  drew  up  beside 
her.  "  I'll  go  ahead.  If  there's  any  sign  of  trouble, 
just  lie  low  —  and  I'll  come  back.  I  promise,"  he 
added  and  rode  on. 

From  where  Barbara  sat  she  could  make  out  dis- 
tinctly two  figures  in  front  of  the  fire  and  what 
appeared  to  be  a  third  supported  in  a  sitting  position 
by  one  of  the  others.  In  a  moment  she  saw  Lisle 
ride  up  directly  to  the  circle  of  light,  swing  from  his 
saddle  and  stride  quickly  toward  the  group,  where 
he  stood  apparently  in  conversation. 

Presently  one  of  the  other  figures  arose  and  came 
forward,  silhouetting  against  the  light.  Barbara's 
heart  leaped  with  relief  and  pleasure  as  she  recog- 
nized the  fringed  outlines  of  the  Indian  woman. 

Naomi  was  evidently  going  for  her  horse,  and  in 


THE  TANG  57 

a  moment  was  headed  toward  the  place  where  Bar- 
bara waited. 

As  Lisle  drew  up  before  the  group  beside  the  fire 
he  was  relieved  to  see  Naomi  and  Blake,  and  decid- 
edly disappointed  to  observe  that  the  man  in  the 
Sergeant's  coat  who  leaned  against  Blake's  knees 
was  not  Lord  Harold. 

Naomi's  eyes  expressed  relief  when  she  saw  Lisle. 
Her  anxiety  for  his  safety  had  begun  when  Lord 
Harold  had  mentioned  the  "  call "  he  had  yet  to 
make.  When  she  had  decided  to  warn  Lisle  of  the 
outlaw's  presence  and  had  ridden  silently  off  to- 
wards the  campfire  which  she  had  believed  to  be 
his,  only  to  find  another  man  instead,  her  anxiety 
was  deepened.  And,  when  she  heard  the  shots  from 
the  direction  of  the  campfire  to  the  right,  she  had 
felt  the  gravest  fear. 

She  knew  that  the  man  sitting  by  his  fire  was  an 
open  target  to  whomever  should  choose  to  creep  up 
behind  him  in  the  darkness,  and  she  also  knew  that 
Lord  Harold  was  perfectly  aware  that  he  was  being 
trailed  by  the  police,  and  was  averse  to  no  method, 
however  cowardly,  that  would  rid  him  of  his  pur- 


58  THE  TANG 

suers.  Moreover,  one  red  coat  was  as  much  an 
enemy  to  him  as  another. 

And  when  she  did  not  find  Lisle  at  the  second 
campfire,  her  fears  were  by  no  means  allayed. 

"  Clinton !  "  exclaimed  Lisle  as  he  strode  forward. 

"  The  same,"  said  the  wounded  man  thickly. 
"  Plus  two  bullets  an'  minus  about  five  quarts  o' 
blood." 

He  spoke  with  difficulty.  His  thick  underlip  was 
thrust  forward  and  his  small  pale  eyes  were  glazed 
and  watery. 

"  Lord  Harold  ?  "  inquired  Lisle. 

"  The  same,"  repeated  Clinton. 

Lisle  knelt  and  passed  his  hand  across  the  man's 
forehead.  "  Where's  your  medical  kit?  "  he  asked. 

"  Here  it  is,"  said  Blake,  passing  him  a  small,  flat 
leather  bag.  "  Just  about  to  bandage  him  up." 

The  two  man  started  to  remove  Clinton's  coat,  and 
Lisle  turned  to  Naomi. 

"  You  may  go,"  he  said,  with  a  nod  in  the  direc- 
tion of  Barbara,  "  we'll  fix  him  up.  There's  some- 
one waiting  for  you  yonder." 

The  two  men  worked  silently.  When  the  band- 
aging had  been  completed  and  Clinton  had  been  laid 
in  his  blankets,  he  seemed  anxious  to  get  something 


THE  TANG  59 

off  his  mind.  After  a  few  labored  outbursts  con- 
sisting mostly  of  oaths  concerning  high-brow  out- 
laws in  general  and  Lord  Harold  in  particular,  he 
said, 

"  Damn  son-of-a-gun  walks  outa  space  with  two 
guns  levelled  at  my  head.  Sits  down  as  if  he's 
goin'  to  spend  the  evenin' —  says  he's  just  been  callin' 
on  a  beautiful  lady  an'  he  guesses  he'll  have  a  little 
chat  with  me  before  turnin'  in.  Says  he  also  is 
needin'  a  razor  blade  —  a  safety  —  havin'  just  used 
up  his  last  one  —  an'  he  guesses  I'll  probably  be  able 
to  help  'im  out." 

The  man  paused  for  breath  and  shut  his  eyes  a 
moment.  Then  he  opened  them  again  and  pro- 
ceeded. 

"  I  tells  him  —  to  guess  again.     Says  any  razor 

blade  he'd  get  from  me  —  would  be  across  'is  damn 

neck.     Damn  lizard  shoves  the  guns  closer  an'  says 

-  he  guesses  again  —  that  I'm  —  probably  goin'  to 

help  him  out !  " 

"  Better  sleep  awhile,"  interrupted  Lisle,  "  you  can 
tell  the  rest  later." 

"  Ain't  a  hell  of  a  lot  more  to  tell,"  said  Clinton 

wearily,  "  guess  there  was  —  only  one  thing  to  do 

—  an*  that  was  to  give  'im  th'  blade.     As  he  was 


60  THE  TANG 

slippin'  it  in  'is  pocket  I  draws  on  'im,  thinkin'  to 
s'prise  'im.  But  he  ain't  the  bein'  s'prised  kind. 
He  lets  go  an'  so  does  I  —  an'  he  wins.  An'  what's 
worse,  he  gets  away!  " 

"You're  after  him,  aren't  you?"  asked  Lisle. 

"  You're  —  damn  right  —  I'm  after  'im !  " 

Lisle  turned  to  Blake. 

"  We  can't  leave  him  here  alone,"  he  said.  "If 
you'll  stay  I'll  go  back  and  break  carnp  and  move  us 
over." 

"  I  was  thinking  about  that,"  Blake  replied,  "  and 
also  of  to-morrow.  Your  duty  calls  you  to  go  on. 
I'll  stay  with  him." 

"  Thanks,"  said  Lisle.  "  I  hope  we  won't  have 
to  arrange  it  that  way,  though.  I  don't  mind  say- 
ing I'd  like  your  company.  Anyway,  we'll  see  when 
to-morrow  comes." 

Lisle  rode  back  to  where  Barbara  and  Naomi 
waited  for  him. 

As  he  supposed,  Naomi  had  told  the  girl  all  she 
knew  of  the  incident,  which  was  that  a  young  Ser- 
geant who  had  come  out  on  Lord  Harold's  trail  had 
been  shot  by  him. 

She  had  given  the  reason  for  her  own  disappear- 
ance as  being  the  result  of  her  uneasiness  caused  by 


THE  TANG  61 

the  visit  of  the  outlaw  and  the  determination  to  see 
if  he  were  still  in  the  vicinity.  The  shots  had  at- 
tracted her  to  the  campfire. 

Silver,  she  said,  had  been  gone  when  she  left. 

"  I've  kept  my  promise,"  said  Lisle  as  he  rode  up 
to  them.  "  He'll  be  all  right  in  a  few  days.  Blake 
says  he'll  stay  with  him." 

"  Blake !  "  exclaimed  Barbara. 

"  Yes  —  fellow  I  found  camping  back  of  me  to- 
night. Nice  chap.  Like  to  camp  along  with  him 
for  awhile  —  but  I  guess  I  can't  very  well  stay 
back." 

"  Blake ! "  repeated  Barbara  under  her  breath. 
"  How  strange !  —  and  yet,"  she  thought,  "  it  isn't 
an  uncommon  name.  Roth  —  and  Blake !  " 

The  memory  of  Roth's  name  reminded  her  of  the 
cardcase.  She  had  forgotten  to  mention  it  to  Lisle 
when  she  had  told  him  of  Lord  Harold's  visit. 

"  Just  before  Lord  Harold  came  last  night,"  she 
said,  "  I  found  a  leather  cardcase  on  the  ground  be- 
side the  fire.  It  had  the  name  '  Herbert  Roth '  en- 
graved on  it." 

"  Roth !  "  exclaimed  Lisle.  She  could  barely  see 
his  face  in  the  darkness,  but  she  knew  the  name  had 
had  some  significance. 


62  THE  TANG 

"  Do  you  suppose  he  might  be  the  one  of  whom 
the  outlaw  spoke  —  the  one  with  whom  he  had  had 
the  '  argument '  ?  " 

"  It  is  quite  likely,"  Lisle  replied  as  his  thoughts 
tumbled  through  his  brain. 

"Herbert  Roth!  The  victim  of  Barbara's 
brother  —  Steve !  " 

Lisle  gathered  his  reins. 

"  I  must  leave  you  now,"  he  said.  "  I'm  going  to 
break  camp  and  move  over  with  Clinton  and  Blake 
for  the  night. 

"  By  the  way,"  he  added  turning  to  Barbara,  "  if 
you  should  need  me  —  if  there  should  be  any  more 
trouble  —  or  unwelcome  visitors,  fire  three  shots  — 
and  I'll  be  on  hand.  And  you,"  he  said  to  Naomi, 
"  had  better  stick  to  your  post." 

"  Thank  you,"  Barbara  replied.  "  You  will  come 
again,  to-morrow?  " 

"  Indeed  I  will,"  said  Lisle  heartily.  "  I'll  be 
there  —  early !  Good-night !  " 

"  Good-night,"  called  Barbara  as  they  turned 
away. 

"  Naomi,"  she  asked  presently  as  their  horses 
walked  side  by  side,  "  are  they  all  like  that?  " 


THE  TANG  63 

"Who,  Mees?" 

"  The  men  of  the  North  country." 

Naomi  smiled  to  herself  in  the  darkness. 

"  No,  Mees,"  she  answered,  "  not  all.  Some  are 
like  Clinton  —  and  others  like  Lord  Harold." 

"  What  is  Clinton  like  ?  "  asked  the  girl. 

"  He  is  like  the  man  Harold,  Mees,  without  the 
'Lord'  an'  the  beautiful  nails  —  an'  the  beautiful 
teeth.  Only  deeference  that  one  is  protect  by  red 
coat  of  law  —  an'  other  is  hunt  by  it.  Beneath  they 
are  alike!  " 

"  But  surely  Clinton  has  never  done  any  things 
such  as  are  attributed  to  Lord  Harold,"  said  Bar- 
bara, "  else  he  could  not  be  a  member  of  the  police." 

"  He  has  not  done  them,"  replied  the  Indian 
woman,  "  but  it  is  only  because  he  does  not  dare !  " 

And  strangely  enough,  it  seemed  to  Barbara  that 
there  was  a  note  of  pride  in  her  voice  —  such  as 
mothers  have  been  known  to  exhibit  toward  the  dar- 
ing deeds  of  a  fearless,  though  wayward,  son. 

They  rode  the  rest  of  the  way  in  silence.  As  they 
neared  the  light  from  the  red  embers  which  remained 
of  their  fire,  they  saw  the  figure  of  Silver  outlined 
against  it,  waiting  for  them. 

Barbara  slipped  from  her  saddle  and  ran  to  him. 


64  THE  TANG 

As  she  came  the  dog  whined  excitedly  and  pranced 
about  something  which  lay  on  the  ground  in  front 
of  him.  He  made  no  advance  to  meet  her,  as 
though  loath  to  leave  the  object. 

Barbara  stooped  and  picked  it  up.  It  was  a  red 
coat  of  the  uniform  of  the  police,  with  three  gold 
stripes  upon  the  sleeve.  It  was  torn  almost  to 
shreds  and  dripping  with  blood! 

For  three  months  the  searchers  traveled  on  with- 
out discovering  a  trace  of  the  object  of  their  search. 

Lisle,  who,  after  camping  near  them  for  a  glorious 
week  following  the  night  on  which  Clinton  was  shot, 
had  ostensibly  and  regretfully  taken  his  leave  on  the 
excuse  of  duty,  and  had  dropped  back  to  his  ap- 
pointed "  mile  .to  the  rear  and  out  of  sight."  He 
had  little  difficulty  in  hiding  his  campfire  now,  as 
the  region  through  which  they  passed  was  almost 
continually  mountainous. 

During  the  week  in  which  he  camped  near  Bar- 
bara, his  acquaintance  with  the  girl  strengthened 
into  a  strong  friendship.  They  rode  side  by  side 
during  the  days  and  sat  together  by  the  firelight  in 
the  evenings  —  and  the  girl's  enthusiasm  for,  and 
quick  appreciation  of  the  things  which  made  this 


THE  TANG  65 

wild  free  country  so  dear  to  him,  drew  him  to  her  as 
no  mere  physical  beauty  or  grace  of  manner  could 
have  done.  Her  culture  and  refinement,  along  with 
her  love  of  the  elemental  things,  were  a  combination 
entirely  rare,  and  utterly  delightful  to  him. 

To  Barbara,  when  the  seventh  day  of  their  jour- 
neying together  brought  with  it  the  parting  .of  their 
ways,  it  seemed  like  the  end  of  a  very  lovely  dream 
—  the  dream  that  had  come  to  her  when  she  had 
been  riding  with  Danny  on  the  hedged-in  road  — 
the  dream  in  which  the  man  who  rode  by  her  side 
had  not  been  quite  Danny,  but  someone  who  would 
want  to  ride  on  and  on  as  she  did,  into  that  far  rim 
where  the  earth  met  the  sky. 

And  this  man  was  like  that.  He  had  chosen  this 
life  because  he  had  been  attracted  to  it  by  the  same 
things  which  had  attracted  her,  and  he  would  re- 
main true  to  it,  she  knew,  until  the  last  spark  of  the 
life  which  flowed  so  vigorously  within  him  was  gone. 

The  last  night  of  his  stay  with  them  was  brilliant 
with  stars  and  the  light  of  a  full  moon.  Lisle  sug- 
gested that  they  walk  to  a  point  of  rocks  which  af- 
forded a  beautiful  view  of  the  valley  and  the  sur- 
rounding country  below. 

There  was  silence  between  them  as  they  walked 


66  THE  TANG 

It  was  born  of  the  subtle  beauty  of  the  silver 
touched  vista  before  them  and  of  the  thought  of  the 
loneliness  which  would  come  to  each  of  them  with 
the  dawn  of  the  morrow. 

To  Lisle,  this  latter  feeling  was  not  so  intense, 
because  of  his  knowledge  that  he  would  be  but  a 
mile  away  from  her,  a  knowledge  Barbara  did  not 
share. 

She  realized  the  many  varied  courses  through 
which  what  some  choose  to  call  the  whims  of  Fate 
might  lead  them  —  and  that  there  was  more  than  a 
mere  possibility  that  she  might  not  see  him  again. 
And  with  the  thought  had  come  a  depression  which 
she  struggled  in  vain  to  offset. 

Lisle,  in  turn,  was  far  more  depressed  than  she, 
and  for  a  far  more  unpleasant  reason.  This  girl 
who  had  suddenly  taken  such  a  significant  place  in 
his  thoughts,  who  loved  the  things  he  loved,  and 
who  walked  beside  him  here  in  the  moonlight  with 
the  glory  of  it  shining  on  her  hair  and  reflected  in 
her  eyes,  was  the  sister  of  the  man  whose  freedom 
and  life  he  sought.  And  the  manner  of  the  seeking, 
would,  he  knew,  when  she  should  find  it  out,  cause 
her  to  turn  from  him  as  from  some  poisonous  thing 
—  which  had  smiled  at  her  —  and  had  struck  her  as 


THE  TANG  67 

it  smiled.  His  intuition  told  him  that  the  girl 
would  never  be  able  to  understand,  for,  withal  she 
was  traveling  a  man's  trail,  with  the  courage  and  the 
purpose  of  a  man,  she  was,  first  of  all,  and  glori- 
ously, a  woman.  And  to  a  woman  the  eternal  pin- 
nacle of  all  things  is  love  —  and  this  includes  the 
love  of  a  brother  —  and  to  her  there  are  no  laws  or 
oaths  of  any  kind  worthy  to  take  its  place. 

And  so  it  was  with  a  heart  overflowing  with  these 
thoughts  unexpressed  that  Lisle's  grave  troubled 
eyes  looked  down  upon  the  silent  little  figure  beside 
him.  The  idea  that  he  loved  her  did  not  occur  to 
him.  It  was  the  strong  firm  bonds  of  their  friend- 
ship which  he  longed  to  hold.  But  when  they  had 
come  to  the  point  of  rocks  and  stood  looking  off  into 
the  moonlit  touched  grandeur  at  their  feet,  he  sud- 
denly found  himself  longing  to  gather  her  in  his 
arms  and  tell  her  all,  and  beg  her  to  try  to  under- 
stand ! 

The  girl  felt  his  eyes  upon  her  and,  turning  sud- 
denly, she  looked  up  into  them,  her  own  filled  with  a 
scarcely  concealed  emotion,  and  impulsively  she  held 
out  her  hands  to  him. 

"I  —  I  wish  you  weren't  going,"  she  said  softly. 

Lisle  took  the  hands  in  his  own  —  and  it  seemed 


68  THE  TANG 

that  he  would  crush  them  if  he  did  not  summon  all 
his  control.  The  girl  swayed  slightly  toward  him 
—  and  suddenly,  all  the  rest  of  the  world  seemed  to 
vanish  except  the  two  wide  sweet  eyes  that  looked 
into  his  and  the  lips  so  close  to  his  own.  In  that 
moment  they  were  but  a  man  and  a  maid  alone  to- 
gether in  a  silvered  wilderness  —  and  there  was  no 
oath  or  outlawed  brother. 

"  Barbara !  "  he  cried,  "  Barbara !  " 

Her  arms  were  about  his  neck,  and  for  one  long 
moment  their  lips  clung. 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  of  October, 
which  also  was  the  first  day  of  winter,  when  Barbara 
and  Naomi  drew  up  in  front  of  Carey's  General 
Merchandise  Store  at  Ft.  Wrigley. 

They  had  passed'  over  to  the  Mackenzie  River, 
followed  it  down  to  Ft.  Norman  where  they  had 
crossed,  and  then  on  south  across  the  Gravel  and  the 
Dahadinni. 

During  the  last  week  they  had  encountered  the 
first  frost  and  chill  winds  which  heralded  the  bitter 
months  ahead,  and  Naomi  had  ardvised  that  they  buy 
extra  clothing  in  Ft.  Wrigley  before  proceeding  on 
their  way  back  to  Dawson. 

It  required  considerable  argument  on  Barbara's 
part  tor  convince  the  Indian  woman  that  the  girl  had 
no  intention  of  going  back  to  Dawson  until  her 
brother  had  been  found.  Some  time  before  Naomi 
had  admitted  she  had  spent  many  a  winter  on  the 
snow  trails  with  dog-teams,  and  Barbara  was  there- 
to 


70  THE  TAJMG 

fore  assured  that  she  was  bringing  no  unusual  hard- 
ship upon  the  woman  by  persuading  her  to  continue 
the  search. 

As  for  Barbara,  she  felt  that  her  summer  on  the 
trail  had  put  her  in  excellent  condition  for  enduring 
the  winter  trip  which  she  was  determined  to  make. 
She  remembered  McLean's  words  concerning  the 
bogs  and  marshes  which  were  impassable  in  summer, 
and  realizing  that  Naomi  had  taken  care  to  avoid 
them  then,  was  resolved  that  the  winter  should  see 
them  well  traced. 

Accordingly,  the  matter  apparently  having  been 
settled,  she  agreed  to  fit  out  at  Ft.  Wrigley  with 
such  clothing  and  other  articles  as  would  be  required 
for  the  time  intervening  between  the  frosts  and  the 
first  real  heavy  snow.  From  here  their  plan  was 
to  follow  still  farther  south,  keeping  within  range 
of  the  scattered  towns  until  they  should  find  it 
necessary  to  purchase  the  dog-teams. 

But  secretly,  Naomi  was  far  from  convinced. 
Her  experience  on  the  great  snow-fields  of  the  North 
country  had  been  sufficient  to  cause  her  to  doubt  this 
girl's  ability  to  endure  the  hardships  and  possible 
dangers  which  they  would  encounter,  and  she  re- 
solved to  manage  to  see  and  talk  with  Lisle.  She 


THE  TANG  71 

knew  that  he  would  come  to  Ft.  Wrigley  shortly 
after  their  arrival,  and  would  come  to  Carey's  upon 
the  same  mission  as  their  own.  He  would,  however, 
contrive  to  keep  out  of  sight  of  Barbara,  and  Naomi 
knew  she  must  find  some  excuse  for  leaving  the  girl 
alone  for  a  time. 

The  opportunity  presented  itself  an  hour  after 
their  arrival  at  the  store.  They  had  just  finished 
making  their  last  purchase,  when  Barbara  was  im- 
pelled by  the  first  Post  Office  sign  they  had  seen  since 
the  beginning  of  the  journey,  to  write  a  letter  to 
Danny.  A  pad  and  ink  were  secured,  and  Barbara 
sat  down  on  the  stool  before  the  crude  wooden  shelf 
next  to  the  caged  window,  which  served  as  a  desk. 
Silver,  ever  on  guard,  stretched  himself  at  her  feet. 

"  I  go  take  horses  for  be  shod,"  said  Naomi. 
"  Tawney  limp  a  little." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Barbara,  "  I  noticed  it.  I'll  wrke 
until  you  return." 

Naomi  left  the  horses  at  the  little  shed  of  the  town 
blacksmith  and  proceeded  quickly  on  foot  to  the  end 
of  the  only  street  which  gave  access  to  the  town  on 
the  west  side.  As  she  had  anticipated,  a  solitary 
horseman  was  coming  slowly  across  the  open  space 
beyond  it,  and  as  he  drew  nearer  his  coat  glowed  red 


72  THE  TANG 

under  the  rays  of  the  sun.  Naomi  went  forward, 
holding  up  her  hand  as  a  signal  of  greeting,  and 
Lisle,  recognizing  her,  came  on  at  a  trot. 

"  She  wills  to  go  on,"  said  Naomi,  going  at  once 
to  the  point,  as  Lisle  drew  up  beside  her,  "  she  not 
go  back  to  Dawson." 

Lisle  frowned. 

"  It  is  as  I  thought,"  he  said,  "  and  feared. 
Where  is  she  now?  " 

"  Carey's." 

Lisle  sat  silent  looking  off  down  the  street  toward 
the  little  store  where  Barbara  was  writing. 

"  I  have  say  much  not  go,"  went  on  the  Indian 
woman,  "  but  white  maid  have  Indian  will." 

"  Have  you  tried  refusing  to  go  with  her?  "  Lisle 
asked,  his  eyes  unconsciously  following  the  figure  of 
a  man  who  was  climbing  the  steps  of  the  store. 

"  Yes,  but  always  she  say  she  get  willing  squaw 

—  or  go  alone." 

There  was  a  queer  expression  in  Lisle' s  eyes.  A 
fragment  from  his  memory  had  crossed  before  them 

—  a  picture  of  a  girl,  with  heavy  dark  hair  clouding 
about  her  shoulders,  standing  before  a  tent  in  the 
dull  glow  of  a  dying  campfire,  one  small  hand  hold- 
ing a  Browning  gun,  leveled  —  at  him.     And  out  of 


THE  TANG  73 

the  picture  came  the  girl's  voice,  not  very  steady,  but 
clear,  "Who's  there?" 

"  And  that's  just  exactly  what  she  would  do,"  he 
muttered  slowly.  Then  he  turned  his  horse. 

"  There  is  no  other  way,"  he  said.  "  I  must  talk 
with  her  and  attempt  to  dissuade  her.  If  I  can- 
not, then — "  he  broke  off  and  clattered  down  the 
road. 

Barbara's  letter  to  Danny  was  a  description  and 
summary  of  the  journey  up  to  their  arrival  at  Ft. 
Wrigley.  She  explained  to  him  the  reason  for  the 
search  and  told  him  of  her  determination  to  con- 
tinue it  through  the  winter.  The  letter  was  entirely 
impersonal,  except  for  the  expression  of  the  wish 
that  he  might  have  shared  the  enjoyments  of  the 
trip. 

She  told  him  about  Lisle,  but  made  no  mention 
of  her  feeling  for  him  —  which  had  developed  sur- 
prisingly since  the  night  on  the  point  of  rocks  — 
except  what  he  might  choose  to  guess  from  her  de- 
scription of  his  character  and  attributes.  It  was  not 
necessary,  she  felt,  to  hurt  Danny  further  than  she 
had  already  done. 

As  she  sat  writing,  a  man  came  into  the  store  and 


74  THE  TANG 

went  to  the  little  caged  window  under  the  Post  Office 
sign.  He  carried  a  package  which  he  apparently 
intended  to  mail.  The  proprietor,  slouched  over  a 
chair  in  front  of  the  little  red-hot  stove,  rose  labori- 
ously, spat  a  large  brown  cud  into  the  box  at  his  feet, 
and  lumbered  over  to  the  counter.  He  regarded  the 
man  with  the  glance  of  quickened  interest  which  was 
invariably  accorded  the  none  too  frequent  advent  of 
a  stranger. 

Barbara  glanced  up  quickly  and  then  went  on  with 
her  writing.  There  was  nothing  about  the  man  to 
attract  attention.  He  appeared  like  any  of  the  other 
men  she  had  seen  on  the  street  of  the  town.  It  was 
not  until  she  heard  Carey's  voice  say,  "  New  York," 
as  he  repeated  that  portion  of  the  address  on  the 
package,  that  her  interest  was  aroused. 

She  looked  up  full  into  the  eyes  of  the  man  who 
now  stood  staring  at  her  with  a  strange  expression. 
It  was  a  weather-beaten  face,  and  the  rather  kind 
brown  eyes  were  lined  about  with  many  tiny  wrinkles 
like  those  which  have  squinted  much  in  the  sun. 
He  had  a  full  beard  and  a  rather  too  heavy  mustache 
which  hid  the  lines  of  his  mouth,  and  his  broad 
hat  was  pulled  low  over  his  forehead.  But  it 
was  his  startled  expression  as  he  looked  at  her 


THE  TANG  75 

which  caused  Barbara  to  wonder.  It  was  not  merely 
the  look  of  surprise  at  seeing  a  lovely  and  obviously 
well-bred  girl  in  a  place  where  white  women  seldom 
came.  Instinctively  Barbara  felt  that  he  was  not 
even  aware  of  these  factors,  but  was  disturbed  either 
by  having  mistaken  her  for  someone  else,  or  by  her 
resemblance  to  some  one  he  had  seen.  He  even 
opened  his  mouth  as  though  impelled  to  speak,  but 
as  he  did  so  the  proprietor's  voice  came  through  the 
bars  with  startling  suddenness. 

"Robin  Hood!"  it  said. 

The  man  jumped  as  though  struck,  faced  to  the 
little  gate  —  and  the  muzzle  of  the  gun  which  was 
placed  against  it. 

"  Yuh  made  a  mistake  when  yuh  turned  yer 
classic  nose  against  yon  light,"  came  Carey's  thick 
voice  from  behind  the  gun,  "  an'  yuh  can't  fool  me 
by  sendin'  yer  damned  booty  to  New  York  —  al- 
though I  admits  I  woulda  bit  quicker  if  it'd  been 
Chicago !  " 

At  the  last  word  the  man  started  violently  again, 
and  then  his  shoulders  seemed  to  droop  and  he  low- 
ered his  hands  limply  to  his  sides. 

"  You  win,"  he  said  wearily.  "  I  ain't  got  no 
comeback.  On  with  the  dance." 


;6  THE  TANG 

Carey's  voice  came  again,  thick,  relentless. 

"  Yuh  jest  stand  where  yer  standin'  an'  look  right 
where  yer  lookin'  an'  if  yuh  bats  an  eyelash  while 
I'm  comin'  outa  this  here  cage,  I'll  fill  you  full  o' 
what's  comin'  to  yuh  sooner  er  later  anyway. 
Ther's  jest  as  big  a  reward  offered  for  yuh  dead  as 
livin' ! " 

The  man  made  no  effort  to  escape.  He  stood  per- 
fectly still  while  Carey  lumbered,  quickly  for  him, 
around  the  corner  of  the  counter  and  shoved  a  gun 
up  close  to  his  captive's  face. 

"  I  hate  to  bother  yuh,  Miss,"  he  said,  "  but  this 
here  tough  weed  o'  the  mountains  is  ripe  fer  pickin' 
—  an'  myself  bein'  otherwise  engaged  I  must  ask 
yuh  kindly  to  go  back  o'  that  there  barrel  o'  flour  by 
the  further  counter  an'  fetch  me  a  piece  o'  rope. 
So  doin'  yuh'll  be  renderin'  a  service  to  th'  com- 
munity." 

Barbara  had  risen  and  stood  watching  the  scene 
wide-eyed,  one  hand  gripping  the  edge  of  the  shelf. 
As  she  realized  what  Carey  was  asking  her  to  do,  a 
wave  of  rebellion  rose  up  within  her.  There  had 
been  something,  she  knew  not  what,  about  the 
startled  eyes  of  the  man  as  he  had  looked  at  her  that 
made  her  loath  to  assist  in  his  capture. 


THE  TANG  77 

"I  —  who  is  he  ?  —  what  has  he  done  ?  "  she  fal- 
tered, unconsciously  sparring  for  time. 

As  she  spoke,  the  sound  of  horse's  hoofs  clattered 
up  to  the  door  and  a  man's  figure  dropped  to  the 
steps.  Before  Carey  could  reply,  Barbara  gave  a 
little  gasp  of  surprise  as  the  tall  form  of  John  Lisle 
filled  the  doorway. 

Lisle  strode  forward  to  where  Carey  and  the  cap- 
tured man  stood.  The  former  greeted  him  with 
boisterous  pleasure. 

"  Well,  I'll  be  gosh-darned  golly-woggled  if  it 
ain't  the  law  himself !  "  he  cried.  "  Yer  jest  in  time ! 
Got  'im  all  cut  out  an'  rounded  up  ready  fer  ship- 
pin'." 

Lisle  had  nodded  quickly  to  Barbara.  To  Carey 
he  said, 

"Who  is  he?" 

"Who  is  he?"  gurgled  the  thick  voice,  "an  to 
think  yuh  don'  know  'im !  Take  a  look  at  yon  pla- 
card, an'  then  turn  this  here  gent's  nose  sideways  to 
the  light  —  an'  I  guess  yuh'll  know  'im  all  right,  all 
right!" 

The  gloating  pleasure  of  the  man  in  his  capture 


78  THE  TANG 

made  Barbara  shudder.  Instinctively  she  felt  that 
of  the  two  the  prisoner  was  the  better. 

Lisle  passed  over  to  where  a  printed  sheet  hung  on 
the  wall.  At  the  top  of  it  were  the  words  "  $200.00 
REWARD !  "  and  beneath  the  heading  were  two 
photograph  cuts,  one  of  a  man's  full  face,  the  other 
of  the  profile.  Barbara  could  not  see  what  was 
printed  below  the  cuts. 

Lisle  turned  to  the  prisoner  and  studied  him  for 
a  moment. 

"  Turn  your  profile  to  the  light,"  he  said. 

The  man  obeyed. 

"  Are  you  '  Robin  Hood  '  ?  "  Lisle  asked. 

The  man  shook  his  head  in  the  affirmative,  and 
once  more  Barbara  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  deep, 
hopeless  eyes  —  and  again  her  sympathy  rose  within 
her.  Surely  the  outlaws  she  had  seen  so  far  were 
extraordinarily  unlike  her  former  conception  of 
them! 

Lisle  pulled  a  pair  of  handcuffs  from  his  pocket. 

"  I  arrest  you  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty  the 
King!"  he  said  quietly  as  he  clapped  them  on  the 
wrists.  Then  turning  to  Barbara, 

"  I  will  be  back  in  a  few  moments,  will  you 
wait?" 


THE  TANG  79 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  girl.  With  eyes  brimming 
with  a  strange  unaccountable  emotion  she  watched 
Lisle  and  his  prisoner  pass  through  the  doorway  and 
on  down  the  street,  the  drooping  figure  of  the  latter 
in  striking  contrast  with  the  erect,  squared  shoulders 
in  the  red  coat.  The  man  had  cast  one  last  look  at 
Barbara  as  he  had  left. 

Carey  rubbed  his  pudgy  hands  together  and  looked 
after  them,  his  little  eyes  alight. 

"  Two  hundred  dollars!  "  he  purred,  "  an'  all  fer 
keepin'  my  eyes  peeled.  An'  it  ain't  the  first  'un 
I've  brought  to  the  justice  o'  the  law!  No  siree,  it 
ain't!" 

The  justice  of  the  law!  The  words  rang 
strangely  in  Barbara's  ears.  The  justice  of  the 
law!  She  looked  at  the  old  storekeeper  smiling  in 
deep  satisfaction  at  the  thought  of  the  reward,  and 
a  wave  of  disgust  passed  over  her. 

"  I  wonder !  "  she  thought. 

_She  wanted  to  learn  more  about  this  "  Robin 
Hood,"  but  her  dislike  for  Carey  resolved  her  to 
wait  and  ask  Lisle.  Accordingly  she  sat  down  again 
and  finished  the  letter  to  Danny. 

Lisle  returned  in  twenty  minutes. 


8o  THE  TANG 

"  I  met  Naomi  yonder,"  he  said  as  he  held  out  his 
hand,  "  and  she  told  me  you  were  here.  I'm  mighty 
glad  to  see  you  again !  " 

"  And  I,  to  see  you,"  replied  Barbara,  smiling  up 
at  him.  "  Isn't  it  strange  that  we  should  meet 
again?  Our  trails  were  not  so  distant  after  all,  it 
seems." 

"  No,"  Lisle  answered  gravely,  "  they  weren't." 

"  What  have  you  done  with  your  prisoner  ?  " 

"  Locked  him  up." 

Barbara  drew  a  quick  sigh  and  her  eyes  were 
troubled. 

"I  —  I  don't  know  just  why,"  she  said,  "  but  I 
wish  you  hadn't  had  to.  What  has  he  done  ?  " 

"  He's  a  queer  one,"  replied  Lisle,  "  another  of 
the  spectacular  species,  but  not  nearly  so  dangerous 
as  Lord  Harold.  He's  a  robber,  but  it  seems  he 
robs  only  the  rich  —  fur  traders,  and  merchants  who 
sometimes  travel  the  mountain  trails.  And  his 
booty,  they  say,  he  sends  to  addresses  in  the  poor 
sections  of  Chicago.  That's  why  he  is  called  '  Robin 
Hood.'  He  has  eluded  the  police  for  four  years 
now.  In  fact,  by  the  way,  he  was  the  man  on  whose 
trail  your  brother  was  last  sent,  and  from  which  he 
did  not  return." 


THE  TANG  81 

The  mention  of  Steve  reminded  Lisle  of  why  he 
had  come. 

"  Naomi  tells  me  you  are  determined  to  continue 
your  search  through  the  winter.  I  am  most  anxious 
to  dissuade  you.  You  cannot  possibly  realize  what 
you  are  attempting.  Strong  men  have  failed." 

Barbara's  lips  tightened  a  little. 

"  It  is  absolutely  no  use  for  you  to  undertake  to 
dissuade  me,"  she  said  firmly.  "  I  mean  to  go." 

Lisle' s  eyes  held  thoughts  unexpressed  as  he 
looked  at  her.  He  longed  to  plead  with  her  for  his 
own  sake,  to  beg  her  to  give  up  the  search  until  the 
summer  months,  but  he  did  not  dare. 

"  Won't  you  —  trust  the  search  to  me  ?"  he  asked. 

"  To  you  ?  "  repeated  Barbara,  surprised,  "  but 
you  have  your  own  commission  —  and  besides,"  she 
added,  "  Silver  would  not  go  with  you,  and  it  is  on 
him  I  am  depending  to  find  Steve.  No.  I  could 
not  trust  this  search  —  even  to  you." 

Lisle  made  a  quick  decision. 

"  Miss  Barrows,"  he  said  earnestly,  lowering  his 
voice  so  as  to  be  out  of  earshot  of  Carey,  "  I  feel 
that  I  must  go  against  orders  to  the  extent  of  telling 
you  that  my  commission  is  already  the  same  as 
yours  —  that  I,  too,  am  in  search  of  your  brother. 


82  THE  TANG 

McLean  would  want  me  to  tell  you  now,  I'm  sure, 
if  it  would  thereby  be  possible  to  swerve  you  from 
your  course.  Now  won't  you  trust  the  search  to 
me? 

"  Perhaps,"  he  added,  "  you  could  train  Silver  to 
go  with  me." 

Barbara  was  staring  at  him  wide  eyed. 

"  But  —  I  don't  understand !  "  she  exclaimed. 
"  Why  did  you  not  tell  me  this  before  ?  " 

"  There  were  reasons  why  I  could  not,"  replied 
Lisle,  a  deep  flush  mounting  to  his  hair. 

"  And  —  the  reasons  ?  " 

"  I  can't  tell  you.     I'm  under  orders." 

Barbara's  eyes  narrowed  slightly. 

"  I  can't  imagine  what  reasons  there  could  be  for 
having  kept  the  fact  from  me,"  she  said,  "  but  if  you 
will  not  tell  me  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  remain  in 
ignorance.  Nevertheless,  I  can't  say  that  I  like  it. 
Neither  will  it  alter  my  purpose,  in  the  least !  " 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  resolution  in  her 
voice  and  manner.  Lisle  felt  a  faint  tremor  at  the 
chill  in  her  tone  which  was  unmistakably  meant  for 
him. 

"  I  am  sorry,"  he  said,  "  very  sorry.     I  would 


THE  TANG  83 

tell  you  if  I  could.     I  wish  that  you  might  believe 
that,  no  matter  what  may  happen." 

There  was  a  wistful  expression  in  his  deep  grey 
eyes  as  he  said  it,  which  was  not  lost  on  the  girl. 
She  lowered  her  own  that  he  might  not  see  them 
soften,  but  she  did  not  reply. 

The  pause  was  interrupted  by  the  voice  of  Carey. 
He  was  peering  over  the  top  of  a  newspaper  and  a 
pair  of  rimmed  spectacles  from  his  chair  by  the 
stove. 

"  Storm  comin',''  he  said. 

Lisle  straightened  and  turned. 

"So?"  he  said.     "Early,  eh?" 

"  Yeh.  Paper's  four  days  old  an*  it  wuz  headin' 
down  from  Ft.  Yukon  then.  Oughta  be  here  pretty 
nigh.  How  about  thet  reward  ?  " 

"  You'll  get  it." 

"When?" 

"  Soon  as  I  can  get  it  here  from  Dawson.  I'll 
report  to-day." 

Carey  laid  down  his  paper. 

"  Ink's  right  there,"  he  said,  "  guess  th'  young 
lady's  through  with  it,  ain't  yuh,  Miss?  " 


84  THE  TANG 

Barbara  nodded,  and  crossed  to  look  out  of  the 
door. 

Lisle  half  smiled  at  the  man's  impatience  and  went 
over  to  the  wooden  shelf.  Barbara's  letter  to  Danny 
still  lay  there,  in  the  envelope  and  addressed. 

"  Do  you  wish  this  posted?  "  Lisle  called  to  her. 

"  Please,"  she  replied. 

As  he  picked  it  up,  Lisle  started  violently,  and  a 
puzzled  expression  came  into  his  eyes  as  they  were 
drawn  to  the  name  written  across  it. 

"Good  God!"  he  exclaimed  to  himself,  looking 
again  to  make  sure.  Then  recovering  himself 
quickly,  he  asked  Carey  for  stamps. 

He  wrote  a  short  report  to  McLean,  including  the 
request  for  the  reward,  and  mailed  the  letter.  But 
Barbara's  letter  to  Danny,  he  slipped  into  his  pocket ! 

"  I  think  there  is  indeed  a  storm  coming,"  said 
Barbara  from  the  doorway,  "it  is  clouding  up  con- 
siderably toward  the  northwest." 

Lisle  crossed  and  looked  at  the  threatening  sky. 

"  Looks  so,"  he  said,  and  then  added,  "  Better 
take  a  couple  of  rooms  here  until  to-morrow,  at 
least.  You  may  find  you  will  need  things  which  you 
have  not  purchased,  if  the  storm  continues  long. 


THE  TANG  85 

Mrs.  Carey  will  look  after  you.  It's  the  only  place 
in  town." 

Barbara  decided  to  accept  the  suggestion,  and 
accordingly,  Carey  called  his  wife,  who  led  the  girl 
to  a  large  comfortable  looking  room  in  the  rear  of 
the  building. 

"  I'll  come  back  later,"  Lisle  had  said  as  he  left. 

Behind  the  little  caged  door  in  the  store,  Carey 
was  reading  once  more  the  address  on  the  package 
which  "  Robin  Hood  "  would  never  mail. 

"  'Nother  of  his  poor  lady  frien's,  I  s'pose,"  he 
chuckled  as  he  tossed  it  into  a  corner  under  the  desk. 

The  package  was  addressed  to 

"  Miss  Barbara  Barrows, 

1730  Riverside  Drive, 

New  York  City." 

The  threatened  storm  hurled  into  Ft.  Wrigley 
with  a  great  roaring  of  wind  and  a  blinding  drive  of 
snow. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  lay  in  a  bed  for  the 
first  time  in  months,  and  a  comfortable  one  at  that, 
Barbara  could  not  sleep.  She  had  been  able  to  open 
only  one  of  the  two  windows  in  the  room,  and  that 


86  THE  TANG 

but  a  few  inches  on  account  of  the  oblique  slant  of 
the  storm,  and  the  stuffiness,  along  with  the  unaccus- 
tomed sound  of  rattling  windows,  disturbed  her. 

As  she  lay  with  her  eyes  closed  her  thoughts 
were  mostly  of  Lisle.  Why  could  he  not  tell  his 
reasons  for  having  kept  from  her  the  fact  that  he, 
also,  was  on  the  trail  of  Steve?  Surely  there  was 
no  need  for  such  secrecy.  McLean  had  told  her 
that  he  intended  to  send  someone  out  on  her  brother's 
trail  again,  and  now  that  she  recollected,  he  had 
mentioned  Lisle's  name  in  that  connection,  although 
she  had  forgotten  the  fact. 

Her  thoughts  went  back  to  her  first  meeting  with 
Lisle  on  the  plains.  He  had  come  very  quickly  af- 
ter he  had  heard  the  shots  —  and  the  fire  —  the 
campfire  that  had  so  often  attracted  her  —  the  one 
which  had  been  always  just  about  the  same  distance 
to  their  rear! 

Suddenly  the  full  significance  of  the  idea  struck 
•her,  and  her  eyes  flew  open,  staring  into  the  intense 
darkness  of  the  room.  It  was  Lisle's  fire!  She 
was  sure  of  it  now!  Lisle  had  been  camping  on 
her  trail  from  the  start!  Under  orders!  She  re- 
membered his  words  and  the  wistful  look  which  had 
accompanied  them. 


THE  TANG  87 

"  I  would  tell  you  if  I  could,"  he  had  said,  "  and 
no  matter  what  may  happen,  I  would  like  you  to 
believe  that !  " 

So  McLean  had  sent  Lisle  out  to  follow  her  —  to 
protect  her  probably,  and  while  she  had  believed  her- 
self to  be  trailing  Steve  practically  alone,  and  had 
been  secretly  somewhat  pleased  with  herself  for  do- 
ing so,  she  had  been  carefully  provided  with  a  pro- 
tector !  She  chuckled  softly  at  the  thought.  It  was 
funny ! 

And  such  a  protector !  Before  her  inward  vision 
stood  his  image  —  six  feet  two,  at  least,  of  stalwart, 
vigorous  man!  Somehow  she  could  not  seem  to 
imagine  a  circumstance  or  a  danger  which  he  would 
not  be  able  to  meet.  There  was  not  even  the  capacity 
for  fear  in  those  fine  grey  eyes,  she  thought,  and 
surely  those  powerful  arms  were  equal  to  any  emerg- 
ency. Strangely  enough,  with  the  thought  of  the 
arms  came  the  memory  of  the  night  on  the  point  of 
rocks.  She  had  felt  the  arms  of  her  protector  about 
her  then,  and  had  heard  his  voice  calling  her  name 
-  her  first  name  —  and  had  felt  his  kiss.  A  thrill 
passed  through  her  at  the  sweet  memory.  The  arms 
of  her  protector !  And  his  kiss ! 

"  B.  B.,"  she  murmured  softly  to  herself,  "  you're 


88  THE  TANG 

falling  —  falling  —  falling  in  love,  and  you  might 
as  well  admit  it !  " 

Instead  of  abating  on  the  second  day,  the  storm 
increased.  Two  feet  of  snow  had  already  fallen 
and  it  was  still  coming  down,  more  evenly,  and  less 
inclined  to  drift. 

"  Looks  like  we' re  in  for  it,"  Mrs.  Carey  remarked, 
peering  through  the  heavily  frosted  window  of  the 
dining  room  as  she  carried  out  some  of  the  breakfast 
dishes.  Mrs.  Carey  was  a  decided  improvement  on 
Mr.  Carey,  Barbara  thought.  She  was  much 
smaller,  her  eyes  were  larger  and  very  pleasant  to 
look  at,  and  except  for  the  habit  of  effacing  herself 
almost  completely  in  the  presence  of  her  overly 
corpulent  husband,  she  was  very  likable  indeed. 

Lisle  was  of  the  same  opinion  as  Mrs.  Carey  when 
he  called  to  see  Barbara  about  eleven  o'clock. 

"  I'm  afraid  we're  stuck  here  for  awhile,"  he  said. 

"We?"  inquired  Barbara,  with  a  mischievous 
smile. 

"  All  of  that,"  replied  Lisle,  catching  the  smile, 
without,  however,  guessing  its  real  meaning,  and  re- 
turning it  in  kind. 

"  I'm   not   prepared    for  this   kind   of   weather, 


THE  TANG  89 

either,"  he  went  on,  "  and  besides,  I'm  not  going 
until  I  see  that  you  are  properly  started.  You  may 
need  dog-teams  if  this  keeps  up,  in  which  case  I'd 
like  to  select  your  dogs  —  and  your  outfit,  if  you'll 
permit  me.  That's  a  very  important  part  of  your 
quest." 

"  I  realize  that,"  replied  Barbara,  "  and  I  shall  be 
very  pleased  to  have  you  do  the  selecting.  For  once 
I  will  not  be  stubborn,"  she  finished,  smiling. 

She  had  resolved  not  to  tell  Lisle  of  her  calcula- 
tions of  the  night  before.  She  knew  that  she  could 
not  forbid  him  to  follow  on  her  trail,  and  she  was 
not  at  all  sure  that  she  wanted  to.  After  all,  it  was 
rather  a  comfortable  feeling  to  know  that  he  would 
be  near  her  through  the  coming  journey,  and  that  the 
ostensible  parting  at  Ft.  Wrigley  would  not  carry 
with  it  the  feelings  of  regret  and  loneliness  which 
had  accompanied  the  one  on  the  plains.  Also,  it 
rather  added  spice  to  the  adventure  to  allow  him  to 
believe  her  still  ignorant  of  his  nearness.  She 
could  not  resist,  however,  an  occasional  thrust  which 
would  make  it  necessary  for  him  to  parry,  and  cause 
the  inevitable  flush  to  mount  again.  He  was  not  a 
good  deceiver. 

"  Which  way  are  you  going,  when  you  leave  Ft. 


90  THE  TANG 

Wrigley?"  she  asked,  looking  him  squarely  in  the 
eyes. 

The  flush  appeared,  as  she  had  expected  it  would 
—  but  his  eyes  did  not  shift,  possibly  because  hi? 
reply  was  the  absolute  truth. 

"  I  don't  know  —  yet,"  he  answered. 

Lisle  was  right  —  they  were  "  stuck "  in  Ft. 
Wrigley  for  a  week,  during  which  it  snowed  almost 
continually.  Finally,  on  the  sixth  day,  the  sun  ap- 
peared once  more  in  blinding  splendor  on  the  glisten- 
ing, white-packed  country. 

There  was  no  question  now  about  the  mode  of 
travel  which  must  be  used,  and  Lisle  spent  the  day 
in  bargaining  with  half-breed  owners  of  huskies,  and 
in  purchasing  furs,  snowshoes,  provisions  and  fuel. 
The  horses  were  sold,  much  to  Barbara's  extreme  re- 
gret, as  she  had  become  greatly  attached  to  Tawney, 
the  pretty  mare  which  had  carried  her  thus  far. 

Barbara  and  Naomi  purchased  their  moccasins 
and  other  necessary  details  of  their  attire,  and  early 
the  next  morning  the  dogs  were  harnessed,  the  loads 
packed  on  the  sleds,  and  the  two  women  stood  on 
the  store  porch  bundled  in  their  furs,  waiting  for 
Lisle  to  finish  buckling  the  last  strap  into  place. 


THE  TANG  91 

Barbara  had  been  obliged  to  put  Silver  on  leash,  as 
his  enmity  against  the  sled-dogs  was  immediate  and 
intense. 

As  they  stood  waiting,  a  horse  and  rider  came 
around  the  corner  of  what  six  days  before  had  been 
a  street,  but  which  was  now  a  slanting  snow-drift. 
The  man  wore  the  uniform  of  the  police.  The  horse 
struggled  through  the  deep  snow,  seeming  to  make 
scarcely  more  than  an  inch  of  headway  at  a  time.  It 
was  evident  that  both  horse  and  rider  were  com- 
pletely exhausted.  As  they  drew  nearer,  the  man's 
face  beneath  the  broad  hat  looked  drawn  and  hag- 
gard. 

There  was  something  familiar  to  Barbara  about 
the  man,  even  at  that  distance,  and  as  he  drew  nearer 
she  stared  at  him  intently,  trying  to  place  him.  Just 
then  he  saw  the  group  on  the  porch  steps,  and  as 
though  the  sight  had  assured  him  that  help  was  near, 
and  he  need  no  longer  hold  on  to  the  last  spark  of 
endurance  which  was  left  in  him,  he  pitched  forward 
across  his  horse's  neck. 

Lisle  got  him  down  to  the  steps,  and  into  a  sitting 
position,  then  he  gently  pulled  the  drooping  head 
back  across  his  knee.  As  he  did  so,  he  uttered  a 
startled  exclamation. 


92  THE  TANG 

"Clinton!"  he  cried. 

Barbara  had  clutched  Naomi's  arm  for  support, 
and  as  she  stared  at  the  unconscious  man  her  face 
was  as  deathly  white  as  the  snow  which  lay  about 
them. 

"  Herbert  Roth!  "  she  gasped. 


CHAPTER  FIVE 

Barbara  and  Naomi  started  out  as  they  had 
planned,  and  Lisle  put  Clinton  to  bed  in  the  room 
Naomi  had  occupied  at  Carey's.  He  told  the  Indian 
woman  that  he  would  follow  as  soon  as  he  had  ar- 
ranged with  Mrs.  Carey  to  care  for  the  exhausted 
man. 

Lisle  had  been  too  busy  tending  Clinton  to  be 
questioned  by  Barbara  concerning  the  man's  iden- 
tity, so  she  determined  to  find  out  what  she  could 
from  Naomi.  She  was  certain  that  the  man  was 
Herbert  Roth,  although  he  was  evidently  masquerad- 
ing under  the  name  of  Clinton.  She  did  not  know 
that  the  dead  body  of  Herbert  ,Roth  had  been  brought 
into  Dawson  fully  a  year  after  Clinton  had  joined 
the  force,  and  if  she  had  known  it,  the  fact  would 
only  have  added  to,  rather  than  subtracted  from,  her 
mystification. 

Lisle  found  that  Clinton  was  only  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted and  in  need  of  complete  relaxation  and 
sleep,  and  when  the  man  regained  consciousness, 
Lisle  learned  that  there  was  someone  in  far  greater 

93 


94  THE  TANG 

need  out  on  the  edge  of  the  town  in  the  snow. 

He  put  on  a  pair  of  snowshoes,  took  a  small  flask 
of  whiskey,  and  hurried  in  the  direction  from  which 
Clinton  had  come.  He  had  gone  but  two  hundred 
yards  beyond  the  turn  by  the  store,  when  he  saw 
directly  ahead  of  him,  a  lone  horse  standing  rider- 
less, the  end  of  the  reins  tangled  about  and  raising 
grotesquely  the  foot  of  a  figure  which  lay  in  the 
snow  beside  it.  The  horse  saw  Lisle  and  whinnied 
softly,  but  the  fallen  man  did  not  move. 

It  was  Blake,  the  tenderfoot,  who  lay  limp  and 
unconscious  beside  the  horse  which  had  brought  him 
through  the  storm  to  Ft.  Wrigley.  The  animal  was 
not  so  exhausted  as  Clinton's  had  been.  It  had 
probably  received  better  treatment,  Lisle  thought  as 
he  lifted  the  limp  form  and  laid  it  across  the  saddle, 
propping  the  drooping  head  with  his  right  arm,  and 
gathering  the  reins  in  his  left.  But  the  man  himself 
was  far  more  exhausted  than  Clinton.  He  had  not 
the  hardy  physique  to  begin  with,  nor  the  power  of 
endurance  which  comes  only  by  continual  contact 
with  the  elements,  and  as  Lisle  laid  him  upon  the  bed 
in  the  room  which  Barbara  had  just  vacated,  the 
grey  eyes  of  the  young  officer  were  troubled. 

"  Poor  kid,"  he  said  compassionately,  as  he  looked 


THE  TANG  95 

at  the  wan  unconscious  face,  thinner  by  far  than 
when  he  had  last  seen  it,  and  lined  with  unmis- 
takable signs  of  suffering,  both  mental  and  physical. 
He  looked  indeed  like  a  mere  boy  in  spite  of  this, 
however,  perhaps  because  of  the  sensitiveness  of  his 
fine  features,  the  wistful  line  of  his  mouth. 

Mrs.  Carey  fluttered  to  and  fro  with  water  and 
towels,  ice  and  ammonia,  while  Lisle  endeavored  to 
bring  Blake  back  to  consciousness. 

"Poor  dear,  poor  dear!"  she  kept  murmuring 
softly,  "he's  that  thin  —  an'  beautiful!  It  don't 
seem  he  had  any  business  comin'  up  to  this  here 
country  anyway,  it  don't.  It's  certain  he  don't  be- 
long here  —  poor  dear !  " 

Lisle  did  not  smile  at  the  term  "  beautiful  "  as 
applied  to  Blake  by  Mrs.  Carey.  He  could  see  very 
plainly  what  she  meant.  There  was  nothing  effemi- 
nate about  Blake's  features,  but  they  were  stamped 
with  a  certain  nobility  of  expression,  something  al- 
most too  subtle  to  be  analyzed,  whether  they  were  in 
action  or  in  repose.  Lisle  had  noticed  it  before  when 
he  and  Blake  had  talked  together  by  the  campfire  on 
the  plains. 

"  No,"  said  Lisle,  "  I  guess  he  doesn't  —  belong 
here,  but  we've  got  to  fix  him  so  he  can,  if  he  wants 


96  THE  TANG 

to  —  and  I  think  he  does."  There  was  a  peculiar 
undercurrent  of  meaning  to  Lisle's  last  words,  which, 
however,  was  entirely  lost  upon  Mrs.  Carey. 

"  Well !  "  she  exclaimed,  with  the  inflection  of  all 
the  motherly  protection  which  it  had  been  denied  her 
to  lavish  upon  a  son  of  her  own,  "  he  ain't  goin'  outa 
here  till  he's  fit  fer  it,  an'  outfit  fer  it,  too.  Men  as 
is  strong  like  you  —  an'  him  in  there,  why  that's  all 
right!" 

Lisle  smiled  up  at  her. 

"  I'm  glad  you  feel  that  way,"  he  said  earnestly. 
"  I  have  personal  reasons  why  I  particularly  want 
this  man  well  taken,  care  of,  and  as  I  am  obliged  to 
go  on  to-day,  it  relieves  me  to  know  that  he  will  be 
in  good  hands.  By  the  way,"  he  added,  "  has  the 
mail  gone  out  yet  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  Mrs.  Carey,  "  it's  late  on  'count  o' 
the  storm.  It  ain't  goin'  out  now  till  afternoon." 

"  Good.  I  put  a  letter  into  the  slide  this  morning 
which  I  should  like  to  have  back  again.  It  was 
addressed  to 

Mr.  Daniel  Blake, 
27  Morningside  Park  West, 

New  York  City. 

"  Will  you  get  it  for  me?  " 


THE  TANG  97 

Lisle  had  slipped  Barbara's  letter  to  "  Danny " 
Blake  into  his  pocket  because  he  believed  there  was 
a  possibility  of  his  seeing  the  man  before  he  left  Ft. 
Wrigley.  He  had  been  convinced  that  the  Daniel 
Blake  he  had  met  on  the  plains,  and  the  one  to  whom 
Barbara  had  written  were  one  and  the  same. 
Blake's  reticence  concerning  his  mission  in  the  far 
north,  his  wistful,  yearning  expression  when  he  had 
spoken  of  it,  had  all  come  back  to  Lisle  as  he  had 
looked  at  the  name  on  Barbara's  letter.  Blake  was 
obviously  of  Barbara's  social  standing,  and  alto- 
gether a  man  by  whom  such  a  girl  as  she  might  be 
attracted.  Lisle  had  met  few  men  that  he  would 
have  considered  eligible  as  such,  but  of  that  few 
Blake  was  easily  the  most  worthy. 

He  had  not  the  slightest  doubt  now  but  what 
Blake  was  following  Barbara  because  he  loved  her. 
The  expression  in  the  man's  eyes  when  he  had  men- 
tioned his  quest  would  have  been  sufficient  to  con- 
vince Lisle  of  that,  and  the  fact  that  he  could  not 
imagine  anyone  knowing  her  and  not  loving  her, 
sealed  the  conviction.  He  knew  that  he  himself 
would  have  followed  her  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  if 
it  were  not  for  the  barriers  which  stood  between 
them. 


98  THE  TANG 

That  Blake  was  one  of  these  barriers  was  more 
than  likely,  but  after  all,  it  was  of  little  consequence 
in  the  ultimate  outcome  of  things.  Lisle  knew  that 
he  himself  could  never  occupy  a  place  in  Barbara's 
life  other  than  that  of  a  friend,  and  even  that  but 
for  a  little  while  longer,  as  each  day  was  bringing 
them  nearer  the  end  of  the  search  which  would  mean 
her  disillusionment  —  and  undoubtedly,  in  conse- 
quence, her  enmity. 

Whether  or  not  Barbara  was  in  love  with  Blake, 
Lisle  did  not  attempt  to  determine.  The  night  on 
the  point  of  rocks  when  he  had  held  her  in  his  arms, 
had  looked  close  into  the  glory  of  her  eyes  and  felt 
the  touch  of  her  soft  lips,  had  left  no  doubt  concern- 
ing his  own  feeling.  But  what  was  to  him  the  real- 
ization of  a  great  love,  may  have  been  to  her  but  the 
momentary  effect  of  the  enchantment  of  the  moonlit 
night,  combined  with  her  isolation  from  other  men. 
The  kiss,  he  knew,  might  have  meant  nothing  more 
than  the  impulsive  expression  of  sorrow  at  being 
separated  from  a  friend.  And  aside  from  all  this, 
even  though  she  might  after  all,  by  some  miraculous 
decree  of  heaven,  love  him,  his  oath,  and  the  manner 
of  its  fulfillment  would  make  it  impossible  for  him 
ever  to  claim  her. 


THE  TANG  99 

Accordingly,  Lisle  faced  the  facts  of  the  situation 
with  the  determination  that  he  would  at  least  conse- 
crate his  love  to  the  service  of  its  object,  and  that  he 
would  do  the  utmost  in  his  power  to  help  the  man 
who  also  loved  her,  and  whom  it  was  quite  possible 
she  loved  in  return. 

He  had  figured  that  Clinton  would  be  able  to 
travel  in  but  a  few  days  after  the  shooting  on  the 
plains,  and  feeling  instinctively  that  Blake  would 
not  prefer  the  coarseness  of  Clinton  to  his  own  at 
least  more  refined  company,  Lisle  had  believed  that 
Blake  would  make  an  effort  to  overtake  him.  When 
the  storm  had  continued,  however,  he  had  at  last 
decided  that  Blake  would  not  reach  Ft.  Wrigley  be- 
fore the  search  for  Steve  was  resumed,  therefore  he 
had  mailed  Barbara's  letter,  realizing,  of  course, 
that  he  had  no  right  to  hold  it  longer  even  in  hope 
of  encountering  the  one  to  whom  it  was  addressed. 

Blake  regained  consciousness  after  an  hour  more 
of  coma.  He  recognized  Lisle  at  once  and  the  ex- 
pression of  pleasure  which  lit  up  his  wan  features 
and  haggard  eyes,  touched  Lisle  deeply.  Blake  was 
too  weak  to  speak  at  first,  but  after  a  few  moments 
he  murmured, 

"  Gee !  but  —  I'm  glad  —  it's  you !  " 


ioo  THE  TANG 

Lisle  drew  a  quick  breath  at  the  words  which  were 
so  like  those  with  which  Barbara  had  first  greeted 
him  on  the  plains.  Surely  the  hand  of  Fate  was 
playing  strangely! 

"  So  am  I,"  he  replied  now,  as  then,  "  and  I'm 
mighty  glad  also  that  you  are  still  you! " 

Blake  smiled  faintly. 

"Almost  —  wasn't,"  he  murmured.  Then  he 
asked,  "  Where's  Clinton?  " 

"  In  there,"  replied  Lisle,  nodding  toward  the  next 
room,  "  he's  all  right.  Some  sleep  will  fix  him." 

The  man  on  the  bed  closed  his  eyes.  Sleep  was 
what  he  needed,  too,  and  it  was  quickly  coming  upon 
him. 

Blake  slept  straight  through  until  six  o'clock.  In 
the  meantime,  Lisle  had  finished  fitting  himself  out 
for  the  journey  ahead,  and  after  a  half  hour  of 
thought  had  taken  an  option  on  four  extra  dogs,  two 
extra  sleds,  and  an  extra  hooded  fur  coat.  The  un- 
derstanding was  that  he  could  return  them  if  he 
decided  he  would  not  need  them. 

He  knew  that  Barbara  and  Naomi  would  travel 
very  slowly  at  first,  as  Barbara  had  expressed  her 
determination  to  mush  behind  the  sleds  sometimes, 


THE  TANG  101 

instead  of  riding  continually,  and  Naomi  would  have 
to  get  accustomed  to  handling  the  dogs.  Lisle  would 
have  little  trouble  in  catching  up  to  his  appointed 
post  behind  them,  providing  he  could  get  started  by 
nightfall  and  their  trail  would  be  easily  followed  as 
it  was  unlikely  that  any  other  teams  would  be  leav- 
ing the  town  in  that  direction.  Naomi's  plan  was 
to  proceed  straight  east,  circle  south  and  cover  the 
low  swampy  region  impassable  in  the  summer. 

When  Blake  awoke,  Mrs.  Carey  called  Lisle  in 
from  the  store  where  he  had  been  waiting. 

"  He's  askin'  fer  yuh,"  she  said. 

"  Was  afraid  you'd  —  gone,"  said  Blake  with 
obvious  relief,  as  Lisle  came  into  the  room,  and 
closed  the  door  behind  him. 

"Not  yet,"  Lisle  replied,  "but  I'll  have  to  go 
soon.  I  wanted  to  see  you  first.  Are  you  strong 
enough  to  —  talk  a  little?  " 

'*  You  bet,"  Blake  answered.  "  I  feel  —  much 
better,  and  it  won't  be  long  —  before  I  can  —  start 
out  —  again.  I  was  hoping — "  he  stopped,  as 
though  wondering  how  Lisle  would  take  what  he 
was  hoping,  but  Lisle  had  already  guessed  what  he 
had  been  about  to  say. 


102  THE  TANG 

"You  were  hoping  you  could  go  with  me?"  he 
asked.  "  Well,"  reflectively,  "  perhaps  you  can. 
We'll  see. 

"  I  have  something  here  which  I  believe  belongs  to 
you,"  -he  went  on,  taking  the  letter  out  of  his  pocket. 
"  It  was  given  to  me  to  stamp  and  post,  and  I 
couldn't  help  but  see  the  name." 

Blake  took  the  envelope  in  trembling  fingers. 
For  a  long  moment  he  stared  at  it,  his  expression 
slowly  changing  from  surprise  to  the  one  Lisle  had 
seen  on  his  face  that  night  on  the  plains.  It  left  no 
doubt  whatever  of  the  identity  of  the  man,  and  the 
reason  for  his  quest  in  the  far  north. 

Lisle  turned  and  went  quietly  out,  leaving  Blake 
to  read  the  letter  from  the  girl  they  both  loved. 

When  he  re-entered  to  Blake's  "  Come  in," 
twenty  minutes  later,  the  man  on  the  bed  reached 
out  and  grasped  Lisle's  hand  in  a  grip  surprisingly 
strong. 

"  Thanks,  Lisle,"  he  said  simply,  while  his  eyes 
spoke  the  feeling  behind  the  words.  "  I  might  have 
known  —  you  were  —  the  one !  They  wouldn't 
have  sent  him  —  with  her!" 

Lisle  knew  that  Blake  referred  to  Clinton,  and  he 
thought  of  the  narrow  escape  the  man's  fears  had 


THE  TANG  103 

had  from  being  justified.     If  it  hadn't  been  for  the 
shadows  on  the  snow ! 

"They  told  you,  then,  at  headquarters?"  Lisle 
asked. 

"  Yes,"   replied   Blake,   "  Commissioner  McLean 
told  me  she  had  gone  —  and  why  —  and  that  some 
one  had  been  sent  to  follow  behind  her  —  as  pro-     • 
tection." 

The  last  word  convinced  Lisle  that  Blake  did  not 
know  the  other  reason  for  his  trailing  Barbara.  Of 
course  McLean  would  not  have  told  him. 

"  Where  is  she  —  now?  "  asked  Blake. 

"  Not  very  far  away,"  replied  Lisle.  "  She 
started  this  morning  due  east,  and  I  intended  to  fol- 
low at  once,  but  was  waiting  until  you  could  talk  with 
me.  They  will  travel  slowly  and  I  can  easily  over- 
take them,  and  I  wanted  to  find  out  what  you  in- 
tended to  do." 

The  man  on  the  bed  smiled  wanly.  There  was  an 
expression  in  his  eyes  at  which  Lisle  wondered,  in 
one  so  unused  to  the  grimness  of  life. 

"  I'm  going  to  —  follow  on!  "  Blake  said. 

"  I  was  rather  afraid  you'd  want  to  do  that,"  said 
Lisle,  "  and  I  took  the  liberty  of  providing  for  it. 
But  I  would  dissuade  you  if  I  could.  This  journey 


104  THE  TANG 

is  not  one  for  a  man  in  your  condition.  Won't  you 
trust  her  —  to  me?  I'll  promise  to  bring  her  back 
to  you  —  safe." 

Blake  shook  his  head  sadly. 

"  I  would  trust  her  to  you/'  he  said,  "  it  isn't  that. 
But  I  —  I  can't.  I  want  to  go  on  —  to  be  near  her, 
at  least.  There  isn't  anything  else  in  the  world  — 
that  I  do  want !  " 

"  Very  well,"  said  Lisle  quietly,  accepting  the  de- 
cision as  final.  "  Then  I  will  wait  for  you.  If  I 
didn't  you'd  try  to  make  it  before  you're  able,  and 
this  way  you  can  keep  still  —  and  warm,  and  leave 
the  rest  to  me.  It  isn't  the  best  thing  that  could 
happen  to  you  by  any  means,  but  it's  a  good  deal  bet- 
ter than  what  you'd  choose  as  an  alternative.  You 
can't  go  to-night  —  we'll  have  to  wait  till  morning 
—  and  mush  through  the  next  night  until  we  catch 
them." 

Blake's  gratitude  shone  from  his  eyes. 

"  You're  —  all  wool  and  a  yard  wide!  "  he  cried, 
then  added,  earnestly, 

"  You  haven't  any  idea,  old  man,  what  you're  do- 
ing for  me !  " 

"  Perhaps  —  I  have,"  replied  Lisle,  and  for  a  mo- 
ment their  eyes  met  in  that  silent  understanding 


THE  TANG  105 

which  comes  sometimes  into  the  lives  of  men  who 
are  cast  in  a  mold  too  big  for  petty  jealousies  —  an 
understanding  which  serves  to  bind  them  together 
with  bonds  stronger  even  than  friendship  —  the 
mutual,  silent  acknowledgment  of  a  great  love  — 
for  the  same  woman. 

Early  in  the  icy  dawn  of  the  next  day,  Lisle 
bundled  Blake  into  the  extra  coat  which  he  had  pro- 
vided, harnessed  the  dogs,  and  drove  out  of  Ft. 
Wrigley  due  east.  He  preferred  to  drive,  himself, 
to  hiring  a  half-breed  for  the  purpose. 

Clinton  was  still  asleep  when  they  were  ready  to 
go,  so  Lisle  left  him  to  the  care  of  Mrs.  Carey,  who 
plainly  showed  her  disappointment  at  having  to  care 
for  him  instead  of  Blake,  toward  whom  she  still 
exhibited  an  overwhelming  motherly  interest. 

The  snow  was  hard  packed  and  the  team  moved 
easily  over  the  light  crust,  Lisle  traveling  without 
the  aid  of  snowshoes,  which  would  have  greatly 
reduced  his  rate  of  speed.  He  was  lightly  clad,  in 
woolens  instead  of  furs,  to  insure  greater  freedom 
of  action,  and  the  exercise  of  running  beside  the  sled 
would  keep  him  warm  enough  except  in  the  colder 
weather  to  come. 


106  THE  TANG 

Blake  was  noticeably  brighter,  and  towards  noon 
he  began  to  take  an  eager,  boyish  interest  in  his  ad- 
venture which  had  heretofore  appeared  to  him  so 
hopeless.  After  all,  Barbara  was  not  far  away, 
and  every  pull  of  the  lively  huskies,  which  ran  with 
ears  and  tails  erect,  was  bringing  them  nearer  to 
her.  They  had  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  the  tracks 
of  Barbara's  team  which  were  the  only  ones  leading 
out  of  Ft.  Wrigley  in  that  direction. 

Blake  would  have  refrained  from  eating,  when 
the  sun  was  high  in  the  heavens,  that  they  might  keep 
moving,  but  Lisle  said, 

"  You're  not  well,  yet,  you  know, —  and  I'm  not 
sick  —  two  very  good  reasons  why  we  should  both 
eat.  Besides,  we'll  only  lose  an  hour  or  so,  and  we'll 
make  it  up  to-night.  There'll  be  a  full  moon." 

But  Blake  ate  little. 

"  I  don't  know  what's  the  matter  with  me,"  he 
said  apologetically,  "  I  can't  seem  to  eat  —  this  kind 
of  food.  I've  been  thoroughly  spoiled,  I  guess." 

"  Just  another  sign  of  the  tenderfoot,"  laughed 
Lisle.  "  You'll  get  over  it.  If  you  had  to  eat 
caribou  steak  and  nothing  else,  for  months  at  a  time, 
a  can  of  beans  would  taste  like  heaven,  and  as  for 
bacon  —  wnim!" 


THE  TANG  107 

Blake  looked  unconvinced. 

"  I'd  probably  die  of  starvation  before  I'd  eat  it," 
he  said.  "  There  are  some  things  I  just  can't  seem 
to  do,  and  eat  food  I  don't  like  is  one  of  them.  I 
wish  to  heaven  I'd  been  brought  up  on  beans  and 
bacon  —  now." 

"  Just  wait  'til  you  get  hungry  enough,"  said 
Lisle. 

Blake  shook  his  head. 

"I  was  hungry,"  he  said,  "out  there  —  in  the 
storm.  Of  course  we  weren't  expecting  it  —  so 
early  • —  and  we  didn't  have  many  provisions  left  — 
and  what  we  had  I  just  couldn't -seem  to  eat.  Clinton 
shot  a  snowbird  and  one  wild  duck  and  I  guess  what 
I  ate  of  those  was  about  all  I  got  away  with  that 
week  —  except  coffee." 

"  No  wonder  you  were  all  in !  "  said  Lisle.  He 
was  thinking  —  wondering  if,  after  all,  some  men 
could  be  made  to  fit  into  this  life  he  loved.  He  had 
thought,  up  to  now,  that  it  was  just  a  matter  of  train- 
ing, and  sojourn.  But  there  was  Barbara,  a  woman 
of  Blake's  own  world,  about  on  a  par  with  him 
physically  —  for  Blake  was  no  weakling  despite  his 
slimness  —  who  had  seemed  to  slip  into  the  life  nat- 
urally, and  with  a  love  of  it  and  a  capacity  for  meet- 


io8  THE  TANG 

ing  its  emergencies,  that  was  equal  to,  and  even  sur- 
passed, that  of  some  of  the  women  born  and  bred 
in  the  midst  of  it.  He  had  not  the  slightest  doubt 
but  what,  barring  unlooked  for  circumstances,  she 
would  suffer  no  ill  affects  from  the  winter  trip,  and 
there  was  no  question  in  his  mind  but  what  she  would 
thoroughly  enjoy  it.  It  seemed  as  though  there  was, 
indeed,  something  which  was  born  and  bred  in  the 
blood  of  some  men,  and  which  others,  no  less  men 
for  the  lack  of  it,  did  not  possess.  Lisle  did  not 
give  this  thing  a  name  —  he  did  not  think  of  it  in 
such  a  tangible  way  as  that.  But  Blake  could  have 
named  it,  if  he  had  known  Lisle' s  thoughts.  He 
would  have  quoted  from  a  letter  which  he  had  read 
in  a  spring  twilight  five  months  before  —  that  twi- 
light which  had  seemed  to  take  with  it  everything 
that  had  made  Blake's  life  lovely.  He  would  have 
called  it  the  "  tang  " — the  tang  of  the  great  grey 
spaces. 

Lisle  was  well  tired  out  by  supper  time,  but  he  felt 
better  after  the  short  rest  and  the  food,  and  they 
started  on  by  the  light  of  a  full  moon.  He  prom- 
ised Blake  a  rabbit  stew  for  the  morrow  as  he  real- 
ized he  would  be  obliged  to  find  something  to  the 


THE  TANG  109 

man's  liking,  else  the  much  needed  strength  would 
not  be  regained.  Accordingly  he  kept  looking  for 
th'e  little  flat  tracks. 

He  was  not  disappointed  at  seeing  no  sign  of 
Barbara's  camp-fire  ahead,  as  he  hardly  expected  to 
come  near  enough  for  that  until  midnight,  at  least. 

Blake  was  standing  the  trip  pretty  well,  and  went 
to  sleep  an  hour  after  their  night  mush  had  begun 
—  and  the  dogs  were  still  eager  for  the  traces,  owing 
to  their  long  term  of  inaction  during  the  summer. 

Lisle  lessened  the  strain  on  himself  to  a  small 
degree  by  riding  atop  the  rear  sled  on  occasions. 
As  they  glided  on,  with  only  the  sound  of  the  pulling 
and  breathing  of  the  dogs,  the  faint  squeak  of  the 
leather  thongs  of  the  harness,  the  soft  slide  of  the 
sled  runners,  and  the  occasional  crack  of  the  long 
whip,  Lisle  tingled  with  the  thrill  of  it.  It  was 
indeed  wonderful,  this  life  which  he  had  chosen  — 
and  which  he  would  never  forsake  —  and  for  the 
moment  even  the  pain  of  the  hopeless  circumstances 
surrounding  his  love  for  Barbara  seemed  to  diminish 
beside  it.  There  was  deep  sympathy  and  compas- 
sion in  his  heart  as  he  thought  of  the  man  who  slept 
in  the  other  sled  —  the  man  who  loved  as  he  loved, 
but  who,  if  indeed  his  love  was  hopeless,  too,  had 


no  THE  TANG 

not  this  thing  to  comfort  him  in  his  sorrow  —  this 
other  love  —  the  love  of  the  Siren  of  the  North. 
And  Lisle  resolved  once  more  that  he  would  do  all 
in  his  power  to  help  this  man  and  the  girl  they  both 
loved,  and  from  whom,  to  Blake  there  was  no  oath 
to  bar  the  way. 

At  midnight  there  was  still  no  sign  of  the  light 
which  they  sought.  Lisle  was  now  tired  and  the 
dogs  showed  visible  signs  of  fatigue.  Lisle  felt  that 
it  would  be  cruelty  to  push  them  farther  without 
some  rest,  so  he  resolved  to  stop  for  a  few  hours. 
He  did  not  release  them  from  their  traces. 

In  order  that  he  might  not  go  to  sleep,  he  busied 
himself  with  making  a  fire  and  heating  a  can  of 
soup.  Blake  awakened,  from  the  cessation  of  the 
movement  of  the  sled,  and  as  he  was  feeling  cramped, 
Lisle  helped  him  on  to  some  blankets  which  were 
stretched  before  the  fire. 

"No  light?"  asked  Blake. 

"  Not  yet,"  replied  Lisle,  "  they're  friskier  than  I 
thought  they'd  be.  I  suppose  it  was  hard  to  hold  the 
dogs  down.  We  ought  to  sight  them  before  dawn, 
but  their  fire  may  be  out,  of  course,  which  won't 
help  us  much." 

Blake  looked  at  Lisle's  tired  eyes. 


THE  TANG  in 

"  You  need  rest,"  he  said.  "  I've  had  enough 
and  to  spare.  Go  to  sleep  and  I'll  call  you  whenever 
you  say." 

"  Well,"  said  Lisle,  "  if  you  feel  awake,  all  right. 
Make  it  two  hours.  The  dogs  ought  to  be  fairly 
rested  by  then. 

"  By  the  way,"  he  added,  "  if  ever  you  should 
hear  three  shots,  no  matter  how  far  distant,  be  sure 
and  tell  me  in  case  I  don't  hear  them.  That's  her 
signal  for  help." 

At  the  end  of  two  hours  they  started  on,  the  dogs 
somewhat  loath  to  rouse  themselves  after  so  little 
rest.  Lisle  gave  them  each  an  extra  frozen  fish  and 
talked  to  them  coaxingly,  until  they  seemed  to  sense 
that  this  master,  who  was  unusually  kind,  who  sel- 
dom touched  them  with  the  long  whip  which  cracked 
over  their  heads,  was  calling  upon  them,  for  some 
strange  reason,  to  serve  him  to  the  utmost  of  their 
strength.  And  because  he  was  kind,  and  they  had 
known  so  little  of  kindness,  they  threw  themselves 
against  their  traces  and  struggled  bravely  on.  They 
knew  also  that  they  followed  always  in  the  scent  of 
other  dogs,  and  they  realized  vaguely  that  this  mas- 
ter wished  to  overtake  those  others. 

As  Lisle  had  anticipated,  dawn  came  with  still 


ii2  THE  TANG 

no  sign  of  the  light,  but  he  knew  that  Barbara  could 
not  be  a  great  distance  ahead.  About  three  o'clock 
they  had  passed  what  had  evidently  been  her  camp  of 
noon  of  the  day  before,  and  Lisle  knew  she  could  not 
make  more  than  twenty  miles  per  day  at  the  most. 

At  six  o'clock  they  stopped  for  breakfast,  and 
Lisle  had  once  more  to  coax  and  encourage  the  tired 
dogs  to  take  the  trail  again.  They  moved  with  lag- 
ging steps  now,  and  each  pull  was  a  visible  effort. 
Lisle  snapped  the  whip  seldom,  calling  to  them  in- 
stead, urging  them  on  in  kind,  even  tones,  and  again 
the  animals  seemed  to  understand  that  their  duty 
was  to  overtake  before  they  rested  again,  the  dogs 
whose  scent  they  followed.  Besides,  this  master 
gave  them  extra  fish,  and  they  knew  there  is  always 
a  reason  for  that. 

About  dawn,  Lisle  sighted  a  dark  moving  speck 
ahead,  and  for  a  moment  he  believed  they  had  at 
last  sighted  their  object,  but  when  it  grew  larger, 
he  knew  that  it  was  coming  toward  them.  Presently 
he  could  see  that  it  was  not  the  long,  low  line  of  a 
team  and  driver.  It  was  either  a  herd  of  caribou, 
late  on  their  way  to  the  protection  of  the  woods  to 
the  south,  or  musk-oxen. 

Lisle  and  Blake  were  traveling  up  wind,  and  when 


THE  TANG  113 

the  herd  came  to  within  a  mile  of  them,  it  swung 
suddenly  south  and  moved  rapidly  away. 

"  Musk-oxen,"  said  Lisle  in  reply  to  Blake's 
query,  "  they  travel  in  herds  of  from  six  to  a  hun- 
dred or  so.  There  were  about  thirty  to  forty  in 
that  bunch." 

"  Ever  hunt  them?  "  asked  Blake. 

"  Can't  say  I  have,"  replied  Lisle,  "  they  aren't 
particularly  good  food." 

Blake  looked  up  quickly  and  then  checked  what- 
ever he  was  about  to  say.  He  had  hunted  many 
times  for  the  mere  sport,  and  the  matter  of  his  game 
being  good  for  food,  or  just  to  be  stuffed  and  hung 
on  some  wall  as  a  trophy,  had  been  an  indifferent 
issue.  He  had  never  needed  to  hunt  for  food. 

"  Funny.  I  guess  I  never  thought  much  about 
that,"  he  said  five  minutes  later. 

"About  what?"  asked  Lisle,  who  had  forgotten 
the  incident. 

"  Killing  for  food  —  or  otherwise,"  replied  Blake. 
"  I  guess  you  sort  of  get  next  to  things  up  here, 
more  than  we  do  at  home." 

"  We  live  with  them,"  Lisle  said  simply.     "  You 

wouldn't  kill  your  neighbor,  except  in  self-defense 

-  and  they're  our  neighbors,  and  better  ones,  I  take 


H4  THE  TANG 

it,  than  some  of  yours  —  I  mean  all  of  them,  not 
only  the  oxen.  Even  the  wolves  kill  only  when 
they're  hungry  —  and  that's  self-defense.  It's  a 
sort  of  law  —  the  law  of  the  wild." 

The  law  of  the  wild!  If  Lisle  had  known  of  the 
incident  of  Barbara  and  the  bear,  he  might  have 
wondered  again  at  the  difference  in  the  breed  of  men 

—  and  women.     For  Blake,  by  no  means  inclined 
toward  cruelty,  evidently  a  keen  sportsman,  had  had 
to  have  this  law  explained  to  him,  and  Barbara  had 
learned  it  in  just  one  long  look  at  a  big  brown  bear 

—  and  a  little  brown  cub ! 

Blake  was  further  interested  a  little  farther  on 
by  the  appearance  of  a  series  of  well-marked,  full 
length  tracks,  which  gave  evidence  of  being  a  long 
bound  apart,  which  Lisle  said  were  the  tracks  of 
otters,  leading  across  country  from  Greasy  Lake  to 
Lake  La  Marte. 

"  But  surely  you  hunt  those,  do  you  not  ?  "  asked 
Blake.  "  Their  furs  bring  a  good  price  in  the 
market." 

"  The  trappers  hunt  them,"  replied  Lisle,  "  that's 
their  profession." 

An  hour  later,  the  third  example  of  this  law  of 
the  wild  was  brought  home  to  Blake. 


THE  TANG  115 

They  were  passing  around  the  foot  of  a  small  bluff 
which  was  dotted  here  and  there  with  clumps  of 
spruce.  Suddenly  there  appeared  on  the  slope  a 
scarcely  perceptible  moving  speck. 

"  Took-too ! "  said  Lisle,  stopping  the  dogs. 
"  Eskimo  for  buck  reindeer,"  he  explained,  smil- 
ing. 

The  caribou  had  not  seen  them.  He  came  nearer, 
around  the  slope,  a  beautiful  white  creature,  with 
branching  antlers.  He  moved  quickly;  it  would 
have  required  a  good  shot  indeed  to  have  hit  him 
as  he  went,  but  Lisle  suddenly  emitted  a  peculiar 
hissing  call,  somewhat  like  the  spitting  of  a  cat,  and 
the  buck  stopped  instantly. 

"  Eskimo  for  '  stop  while  I  shoot  you/  "  laughed 
Lisle  softly,  as  he  started  the  dogs  again. 

With  the  movement  the  buck  saw  them  and 
plunged  out  of  sight  around  the  bluff.  But  in  that 
moment  he  had  been  an  easy  target  for  the  man  who 
had  fooled  him  with  the  hissing  call,  if  Lisle  had 
chosen  to  take  advantage  of  it. 

Blake  turned  this  law  of  the  wild  over  in  his  mind 
for  a  moment.  Finally  he  said, 

"  Funny  how  I  never  thought  of  it  that  way  be- 
fore. It's  rather  like  meeting  a  friend  in  the  wilder- 


ii6  THE  TANG 

ness,  when  you  get  near  one  like  that,  out  here,  isn't 
it?  I  believe  if  I'd  been  alone  then,  I'd  have  felt 
the  same  way  I  did  when  you  came  to  my  fire  on  the 
plains  that  night.  And  Heaven  knows  that  was 
anything  but  the  desire  to  shoot  you ! " 

They  both  laughed. 

"  You've  got  the  idea,"  said  Lisle. 

Suddenly  Blake  was  reminded  of  something. 

"  At  that,  it  seems  all  men  up  here  don't  go  by 
your  law,"  he  said.  "  Clinton  told  me  he  had  been 
delayed  two  days  two  hundred  miles  out  from  Daw- 
son,  tracking  down  a  she  bear  and  a  cub." 

"  No,"  replied  Lisle  gravely,  "  all  men  —  don't. 
Did  he  get  her?" 

"  No,"  replied  Blake,  "  she  was  too  slick  for  him, 
I  guess,  so  he  gave  it  up.  He  said  some  one  had 
evidently  been  there  before  him,  as  she  had  one 
frayed  ear." 

It  was  high  noon  when  Lisle  caught  sight  of  the 
dark  speck  which  he  felt  certain  was  Barbara's  team. 
It  was  four  miles  ahead  and  directly  in  line  with 
the  tracks.  As  it  was  not  moving,  Lisle  concluded 
that  they  had  stopped  for  lunch,  so  he  proceeded  to 
do  likewise.  He  felt  that  at  last  he  had  reached  his 


THE  TANG  117 

"  post "  and  as  the  "  mile  to  the  rear  "  would  have 
to  be  extended  to  four,  owing  to  their  being  visible 
from  a  greater  distance  on  the  snow. 

Again  the  dogs  were  not  unharnessed,  for  there 
was  yet  a  half  day's  journey  to  be  made. 

As  they  sat  resting  after  the  meal,  Lisle's  eyes 
keeping  watch  of  the  speck  ahead,  a  snowshoe  rabbit 
suddenly  appeared  from  behind  a  piece  of  snow- 
laden  scrub,  and  stopped  dead  still  at  the  unexpected 
sight  of  the  campers.  Quick  as  a  flash,  Lisle 
whipped  out  his  gun  and  fired,  and  the  little  creature 
dropped  in  the  tracks  of  its  flying  retreat. 

"  Your  dinner,"  said  Lisle  to  Blake  as  he  brought 
it  back.  "  You  can't  live  on  soup." 

He  cleaned  and  packed  the  rabbit  and  then  opened 
his  gun. 

"  Guess  I'll  keep  her  filled,"  he  said  as  he  opened 
one  of  the  pockets  of  his  cartridge  belt  and  filled 
the  empty  chamber. 

Suddenly  he  stopped  still. 

"  How  many  shots  have  you  ?  "  he  asked  Blake. 

"  Five.     I  haven't  used  any." 

"Any  extras?" 

"  No.  Clinton  used  them.  I  had  intended  to 
stock  up  in  Ft.  Wrigley." 


ii8  THE  TANG 

Lisle  drew  a  long  breath  and  put  his  gun  back  in 
the  holster. 

"  So  had  I,"  he  said  slowly,  "  and  I  left  it  on  the 
counter  at  Carey's.  We've  got  eleven  shots  to  see 
us  through  —  perhaps  the  winter ! 

"I'm  a  fine  protector,  I  am! "  he  added  savagely. 

Lisle  was  more  fully  convinced  of  his  shortcom- 
ings as  dependable  protection  before  the  sun  set. 

About  three  o'clock  they  came  to  the  tracks  of 
another  team  which  had  crossed  the  one  he  had  been 
following,  and  which  had  apparently  gone  on  due 
southeast.  There  was  a  slight  delay  here,  owing 
to  the  fact  that  a  camp  had  been  made  directly  on 
the  fork  of  the  tracks,  and  the  resulting  confusion 
of  the  tracks  prompted  Lisle  to  investigate  them 
closely  upon  their  continuance,  that  he  might  make 
no  mistake  in  following  the  ones  which  were  in  line 
with  their  own.  The  black  speck  had  passed  out  of 
sight,  as  Lisle's  dogs  were  too  weary  to  keep  the 
distance  between  them. 

The  stranger  team  had  evidently  included  a  brace 
of  nine  dogs,  harnessed  singly,  as  had  Barbara's, 
and  it  was  impossible  to  determine  the  number  of 
sleds  by  means  of  the  tracks.  Lisle  studied  the  foot- 


THE  TANG  119 

prints  and  discovered  that  those  of  the  driver  were 
the  only  ones  visible  in  each  case.  There  was  no 
sign  of  Silver's  tracks,  on  either  trail,  a  fact  which 
puzzled  Lisle  considerably. 

Finally,  taking  it  for  granted  that  the  Indian 
woman's  feet  would  make  the  smaller  tracks,  and 
finding  that  those  proceeded  on  in  his  direction, 
Lisle  swung  the  dogs  on  again. 

It  was  dark  at  six  o'clock,  and  Lisle's  heart  gave 
a  bound  of  relief  as  he  caught  sight  of  a  tiny  spot 
of  light  far  ahead  of  them.  He  drove  two  miles 
farther,  and  then  assured  that  he  was  at  his  tempo- 
rary destination  at  last,  he  made  camp,  unharnessed 
and  fed  the  dogs,  stewed  the  rabbit,  of  which  Blake 
ate  heartily,  and  dropped  into  his  blankets  for  a  much 
needed  sleep. 

The  sun  was  up  when  Blake  called  him  in  the 
morning. 

'  Thought  I'd  better  get  you  up,"  he  laughed, 
"  or  you'd  probably  sleep  all  day.  The  Lord  knows 
you  need  it,  but  I  knew  you  didn't  want  it." 

"  I  should  say  I  didn't !  "  said  Lisle,  jumping  up 
and  peering  ahead  through  blurred  eyes. 

"  They've  gone,"  said  Blake,  "  that's  why  I  called 
you." 


120  THE  TANG 

Lisle  hurried  the  preparations  for  breakfast,  and 
they  were  soon  once  more  on  the  way. 

It  was  eight  o'clock  when  they  came  to  the  place 
in  which  the  pursued  had  made  camp.  Lisle  sud- 
denly halted  the  dogs  as  something  which  was  lying 
on  the  burned  remains  of  the  fire-brands  caught  his 
eye.  He  went  over  and  picked  it  up  and  stood  look- 
ing at  it,  his  back  to  Blake.  When  he  turned,  Blake 
was  startled  at  the  expression  on  the  other's  face. 

"  The  bowl  of  a  broken  pipe,"  said  Lisle  as  he  held 
the  thing  out  for  Blake  to  see,  "  and  Naomi  doesn't 
smoke! " 


CHAPTER  SIX 

The  feelings  of  Lisle  and  Blake  as  they  crossed 
the  snow  toward  the  direction  the  other  team  had 
taken  were  hardly  conducive  to  conversation. 
Lisle's  were  a  mixture  of  the  deepest  self-condemna- 
tion and  anxiety,  and  Blake  felt  that  he  himself  had 
been  the  initial  cause  of  the  situation,  in  holding 
Lisle  back  at  Ft.  Wrigley. 

The  thought  that  Barbara  might  be  in  immediate 
danger  did  not  trouble  Lisle  considerably.  He  felt 
sure  the  girl  could  take  care  of  herself  under  ordi- 
nary misfortune,  and  he  knew  that  Naomi  was  en- 
tirely dependable,  a  crack  shot,  and  a  veteran  on  the 
snowfields.  That  he  would  overtake  them  he  had 
no  doubt  whatever. 

It  was  the  fact  that  he  was  not  at  his  post,  that 
he  was  not  fulfilling  his  orders  to  the  letter,  which 
bothered  him  the  most,  and  also,  he  disliked  putting 
the  dogs  to  the  further  strain  of  another  night  and 
day  without  rest. 

121 


122  THE  TANG 

He  did  not  consider  a  direct  effort  to  cut  off  at 
right  angles  to  the  other  trail,  as  there  was  a  possi- 
bility, of  course,  that  unlooked-for  circumstances 
might  prevent  Naomi  from  keeping  to  the  course 
which  she  had  planned,  in  which  case  the  finding  of 
her  trail  would  be  greatly  complicated.  Although  he 
considered  it  unnecessary  to  retrace  to  the  fork  of 
the  two  trails,  he  headed  for  a  point  southwest, 
rather  than  directly  south.  This  should  bring  him 
a  day's  mush  from  the  fork  on  the  other  trail,  and 
would  give  Barbara's  team  an  advance  of  from 
thirty  to  forty  miles. 

Another  disturbing  feature  of  the  situation  was 
the  shortage  of  ammunition.  Eleven  shots  are  few 
indeed  when  the  time  to  be  spent  on  a  trail  may  ex- 
tend into  months,  and  the  circumstances  calling  for 
the  use  of  them  are  more  than  likely  to  be  many. 
There  is  a  limit  to  the  amount  of  provisions  which 
may  be  carried  on  a  long  mush,  and  the  traveler  on 
the  snowfields  and  in  the  mountains  must  depend 
upon  his  gun  to  replenish  his  store.  The  dogs  must 
have  meat,  and  in  the  present  case  they  must  have 
extra  portions  to  keep  them  in  condition  and  spirit 
for  the  unusual  strain  under  which  they  were  put, 
and  at  any  rate  the  supply  would  soon  be  exhausted. 


THE  TANG  123 

Blake  must  have  food  that  he  could  eat,  and  Lisle 
had  completely  abandoned  the  idea  that  the  tender- 
foot might  eventually  learn  to  relish  the  canned  and 
dried  stores  which  were  the  only  kind  that  might 
be  taken  on  a  journey  such  as  this. 

That  they  might  meet  with  someone  who  would 
be  willing  to  share  his  ammunition  with  them,  was 
extremely  unlikely.  Men  carry  not  an  ounce  more 
than  they  need,  on  a  mush.  To  share  it  would  be  a 
sacrifice,  and  one  seldom  indulged  in  by  the  half- 
breeds  or  Indians,  of  the  type  generally  met  with  in 
this  region. 

Blake  realized  this  difficulty,  if  not  so  keenly  as 
Lisle,  at  least  sufficiently  to  cause  him  to  resolve  to 
force  down  the  food  which  was  so  distasteful  to  him. 
He  assumed  a  sudden  fondness  for  beans,  which  he 
figured  would  be  the  most  substantial  nourishment 
of  the  provisions  which  they  carried,  and  of  which 
he  would  not  be  required  to  eat  so  much  in  order  to 
convince  Lisle  that  he  had  eaten  a  meal.  He 
"  drowned "  them  as  much  as  possible  in  strong 
coffee,  which  was  the  one  thing  Lisle  cooked  that 
Blake  really  enjoyed. 

This  deception  worked  for  several  days  until  a  fit 
of  nausea,  which  he  was  powerless  to  hide  from 


124  THE  TANG 

Lisle,  compelled  Blake  to  admit  that  he  just  could 
not  eat  beans.  Accordingly,  against  Blake's  ear- 
nest attempts  at  dissuasion,  Lisle  shot  two  more 
rabbits  and  kept  his  eyes  open  continually  in  search 
of  tracks  of  larger  game  which  might  be  packed  and 
carried  along  with  them.  Lisle  was  obliged  to 
regret  that  he  had  not  shot  the  caribou  which  had 
been  so  available  on  the  cliff. 

It  was  a  strenuous  few  days  and  nights  which 
followed  the  discovery  of  the  mistake  in  their  pur- 
suit. They  made  no  attempt  at  camping,  except  for 
a  few  hours  at  a  time  in  which  to  eat.  The  dogs 
demanded  a  certain  amount  of  rest  or  Lisle  would 
have  taken  none  himself.  Blake  slept  on  the  mush 
and  kept  vigil  during  the  rests,  while  Lisle  snatched 
a  few  moments  of  sleep. 

They  traveled  due  southwest  for  a  day  and  a  night 
before  they  came  to  the  tracks  of  the  team  they 
sought.  Instead  of  keeping  a  straight  course,  the 
trail  seemed  to  be  circling  toward  the  south  and  east, 
and  Lisle  wondered  why  Naomi  had  chosen  this 
roundabout  way  toward  her  goal.  The  possibility 
that  the  Indian  woman  may  have  been  endeavoring 
to  avoid  contact  with  the  maker  of  the  trail  which 
they  had  mistakenly  followed,  occurred  to  Lisle. 


THE  TANG  125 

Owing  to  the  confusion  of  the  tracks  it  had  been 
impossible  to  determine  which  team  had  passed  first, 
or  if  they  had  met,  as  both  trails  were  comparatively 
fresh.  Lisle  knew  that  Naomi  would  take  every 
precaution  to  avoid  any  meeting  with  the  usual  type 
of  man  on  the  winter  mush,  except  that  no  effort 
would  be  withheld  to  determine  if  any  trail  which 
they  should  encounter  might  lead  to  the  object  of 
their  search. 

Silver,  of  course,  would  be  the  medium  for  the 
settling  of  any  such  doubt.  But  Silver's  tracks  were 
missing  on  either  trail,  a  fact  which  puzzled  Lisle 
considerably.  If  the  dog  had  gone  on  a  hunt  to  fol- 
low the  trail  of  some  wild  creature,  his  tracks  would 
be  easily  discernible.  If  there  had  been  a  mishap  to 
any  of  the  sled  dogs,  and  Silver  had  been  put  into 
the  traces  to  fill  the  vacancy,  the  husky  would  have 
to  be  accounted  for. 

At  noon  of  the  second  day  along  the  rediscovered 
trail,  an  ominous  lowering  of  the  clouds  and  a  dead 
calm  which  was  evident  even  in  the  vast  open  plain 
over  which  they  mushed,  gave  evidence  of  the  ap- 
proach of  more  snow.  This  fact,  insignificant 
enough  to  Blake,  the  tenderfoot,  was  filled  with  fore- 
bodings for  Lisle. 


126  THE  TANG 

He  knew  that  a  comparatively  light  fall  could 
obliterate  all  trace  of  the  trail  on  which  it  was  so 
urgent  that  they  keep,  and  also  that  it  would  necessi- 
tate the  use  of  snowshoes,  which  fortunately  he  had 
not  been  compelled  to  wear  heretofore. 

Also,  he  was  beginning  to  be  worried  about  Blake. 
The  man  could  not  eat,  and  coffee  alone  is  a  poor 
fare  for  building  strength  in  an  exhausted  body, 
and  supplying  the  warmth  which  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  have  stored  within  during  the  cold  spell 
which  was  almost  certain  to  follow  a  storm. 

Accordingly  Lisle  summoned  all  his  reserve 
energy  —  the  little  that  remained  after  the  constant 
strain  under  which  he  had  been  laboring.  He 
urged  the  dogs  onward  in  clear  coaxing  tones,  treat- 
ing them  with  pats  and  strokes  and  extra  fish  on  the 
short  rests,  but  with  anguish  in  his  heart  that  it  was 
necessary  to  make  them  undergo  the  strain  which 
was  now  nothing  short  of  cruelty.  They  knew  that 
they  were  again  on  the  scent  of  those  other  dogs 
which  this  master  who  was  so  kind,  but  who  ever 
urged  them  beyond  their  strength,  wished  to  over- 
take. That  they  had  left  the  dog  scent  for  awhile 
was  vaguely  puzzling  to  the  animals,  but  it  was  not 
given  to  them  to  reason,  and  their  instinct  told  them 


THE  TANG  127 

that  they  were  still  struggling  toward  that  for  which 
their  master  was  searching. 

Half  wolf,  mostly,  and  more  than  half  savage, 
these  beasts  had  also  in  their  veins  the  blood  of  the 
dog,  and  the  dog  may  ever  be  tamed  by  the  hand 
of  kindness.  And  once  tamed,  that  great  element 
of  faithfulness  which  is  the  heritage  of  all  dogs, 
responds  to  the  death.  Lisle  had  made  a  wise  de- 
cision indeed  when  he  had  chosen  to  drive  the  team 
himself. 

They  made  better  time  on  the  afternoon  mush 
owing  to  Lisle's  continuous  efforts,  and  it  was  not 
until  four  o'clock  that  the  first  flakes  of  snow  from 
the  approaching  storm  began  to  fall.  It  was  one  of 
those  quiet  beginnings  which  to  those  experienced 
in  the  manner  of  storms  in  the  North  country  her- 
alded a  long  extended  fall.  It  did  not  burst  in  great 
roars  and  whirls  and  bombard  the  snow  in  drifts 
about  the  hills  and  rocks  where  the  country  stood  at 
bay,  and  finally  seemed  to  spend  itself  by  reason  of 
its  very  energy.  It  came  silently,  a  steady  filter  of 
grey-white  mist,  steadily  growing  thicker  and  falling 
faster,  its  evenness  seeming  to  express  its  capacity 
for  endurance. 

When  night  came,  Lisle  declared  his  determination 


128  THE  TANG 

to  continue  on  without  stopping  either  for  food  or 
rest.  To  stop  the  dogs  now  would  mean  a  possibil- 
ity amounting  almost  to  a  certainty  that  they  would 
refuse  to  go  on  again,  and  the  sighting  of  Barbara's 
campfire  light,  he  felt  reasonably  sure,  was  now  a 
matter  of  but  a  few  hours'  steady  travel.  The  leader 
of  the  dogs,  a  powerful  Labrador  husky,  had  already 
stumbled  and  gone  down  several  times,  and  the  affect 
on  the  others  was  evident.  The  weakening  of  their 
leader  was  breaking  their  courage,  and  Lisle's  re- 
doubled efforts  to  urge  them  on  were  rapidly  becom- 
ing less  effective. 

By  midnight  there  was  a  foot  of  freshly  fallen 
snow  and  the  tracks  which  Lisle  followed  were  rap- 
idly becoming  obliterated.  There  was  only  the  ir- 
regular hump  at  the  sides  and  in  the  center  of  the 
tracks  to  guide  him,  and  these  were  discerned  dimly 
enough  through  the  darkness  and  the  veil  of  snow. 
Lisle  was  finally  obliged  to  rely  entirely  upon  his 
sense  of  direction  as  applied  to  the  circling  route 
which  the  tracks  of  the  pursued  had  taken.  They, 
had  rounded  slowly  toward  the  northeast  and  Lisle 
concluded  that  Naomi  had  indeed  been  endeavoring 
to  avoid  contact  with  the  maker  of  the  tracks  they 
had  crossed,  and  was  now  circling  back. 


THE  TANG  129 

It  was  three  o'clock  when  Lisle  sighted  the  twinkle 
of  a  light  far  ahead.  Summoning  his  last  ounce  of 
endurance  he  urged  the  dogs  on  toward  the  faint 
yellow  speck,  knowing  that  he  was  nearer  to  it  than 
on  the  former  clear  night  when  he  had  sighted  it, 
as  the  snow  had  caused  it  to  be  undiscernible  from 
a  greater  distance. 

It  was  exactly  ten  minutes  later  that  Kazak,  the 
leader  of  the  huskies,  dropped  in  his  traces  and  re- 
fused to  move.  It  would  have  been  futile  to  put 
another  dog  in  his  place.  Their  leader  down,  the 
other  dogs  "  struck,"  and  after  floundering  uncer- 
tainly for  a  moment  in  the  soft  snow,  they  relaxed 
utterly,  nor  would  all  the  kindness  nor  all  the  meat 
nor  all  the  whip  lashes  in  the  world,  had  Lisle  been 
inclined  to  use  the  latter,  induce  them  to  move  on. 

But  the  light  of  the  campfire  glowed  ahead  like 
a  tiny  beacon  through  the  white  mist  over  the  sea  of 
snow,  and  Lisle  made  no  effort  to  arouse  the  dogs. 
He  prepared,  rather,  to  make  camp  on  the  spot, 
and  after  kindling  a  blaze,  which  he  hoped  Naomi 
would  see,  he  warmed  some  soup  for  Blake  and 
himself,  and  then  dropped  exhausted  into  his  blan- 
kets, telling  Blake  to  be  sure  to  call  him  if  he  slept 
later  than  dawn. 


1 30  THE  TANG 

"  I  was  awake  quite  a  bit,  last  night,"  said  Blake 
when  he  had  aroused  Lisle  the  following  morning, 
"  and  I  noticed  that  the  light  ahead  went  out  rather 
suddenly  about  an  hour  after  you  turned  in." 

Lisle  peered  ahead,  trying  to  pierce  the  white  dot- 
ted veil  which  was  still  hanging  about  them.  The 
dogs,  which  had  not  moved  from  where  they  had 
fallen,  had  been  half  buried  under  the  snow. 

"  There  may  be  several  reasons  for  that,"  Lisle 
replied.  "  Silver  or  some  of  the  sled  dogs  may 
have  accidentally  pushed  it  out  with  the  snow,  or  a 
gust  of  wind  may  have  deadened  it  if  it  were  low 
enough." 

"  It  was  quite  bright,"  said  Blake,  "  and  there  was 
no  wind.  That's  why  I  noticed  the  thing  par- 
ticularly." 

Lisle  considered  a  moment. 

"  I  can't  see  anything,"  he  said  finally.  "  Guess 
the  sooner  we  move  along  the  better.  I'm  not  taking 
any  chances  on  losing  them  again." 

Lisle  had  been  too  much  engrossed  in  the  urgency 
of  his  getting  ahead  during  the  last  few  days  to  give 
more  than  passing  attention  to  Blake.  But  now,  in 
the  cold  grey  light  of  the  snow-filled  dawn,  he  was 
suddenly  appalled  at  the  man's  appearance.  The 


THE  TANG  131 

flesh  of  fhe  tenderfoot's  face  was  white  in  spite  of 
its  recent  exposure,  and  seemed  fairly  to  cling  to 
the  bones  beneath,  and  his  eyes  seemed  to  have  sunk 
deeper  into  their  blue  circled  sockets.  The  expres- 
sion,—  the  one -which  had  caused  Mrs.  Carey  to  call 
Blake  "  beautiful "  and  which  had  convinced  Lisle 
of  the  quality  of  the  man  at  their  first  meeting  — 
seemed  to  be  the  only  thing  which  remained  of  his 
normal  individuality. 

"  Good  God,  man!  "  Lisle  exclaimed,  "  we've  got 
to  find  something  you  can  eat.  I've  been  neglecting 
you." 

Blake  smiled  wanly. 

"  You've  had  enough  on  your  hands  —  and 
mind,"  he  replied,  "  without  me.  I'm  all  right.  All 
I  do  is  sit  —  so  I  don't  need  much." 

"  All  you  will  do  is  sit,"  replied  the  other,  "  if  you 
don't  soon  have  something  to  make  you  strong 
enough  to  stand.  We'll  have  more  time  to  forage 
from  now  on.  Are  you  warm  enough?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Blake,  "  I  ought  to  be,  with  all 
your  furs  on  me  as  well  as  mine." 

"  Cheer  up,"  said  Lisle,  "  the  weather  hasn't  be- 
gun to  be  cold  yet,  and  by  the  time  it  hits  thirty 
below  we'll  have  your  inward  heat  supply  re- 


132  THE  TANG 

enforced  so  you  won't  need  more  than  your  own.'* 

Lisle  spoke  with  considerably  more  assurance  than 
he  felt.  The  game  which  would  have  served  them 
was  buried  under  the  snow  in  windfalls,  or  dens  or 
burrows,  or  under  the  deep  mounds  and  drifts,  where 
it  would  remain  until  the  storm  passed,  or  would  die, 
if  the  storm  continued  long  enough.  It  seemed  that 
the  chances  for  Blake's  improvement  lay  in  the 
endurance  of  the  snowfall. 

The  storm  continued  throughout  the  day.  Lisle 
had  been  obliged  to  resort  to  snowshoes  some  time 
before  and  consequently  they  moved  comparatively 
slowly.  He  knew,  however,  that  Naomi  would  have 
to  do  the  same. 

It 'occurred  to  him  to  wonder  a  little  why  Naomi 
had  not  missed  seeing  his  light  behind  her,  and  ac- 
cordingly slackened  her  pace  in  view  of  the  possi- 
bility of  his  having  been  unavoidably  detained,  either 
at  Ft.  Wrigley  or  somewhere  during  the  journey. 
He  rather  wished  he  had  thought  of  arranging  some 
signal  by  which  he  might  have  attracted  her  atten- 
tion in  case  of  the  latter  event. 

They  mushed  until  four  o'clock  before  Lisle  be- 
came disturbed  at  not  sighting  the  dark  moving 
speck  ahead  which  would  have  been  Barbara's  team. 


THE  TANG  133 

Surely  Naomi  was  driving  at  top  speed,  and  he  was 
at  a  loss  to  determine  the  reason. 

Along  towards  six  o'clock  the  storm  gave  evidence 
of  slackening.  It  was  entirely  dark,  but  there  was 
yet  no  sign  of  the  light  ahead.  There  was,  how- 
ever, the  faintest  trace  of  tracks  on  the  white  carpet 
which  became  constantly  more  visible  as  the  snow- 
fall became  less  intense.  Undoubtedly  they  were 
still  on  the  trail. 

Lisle  watched  for  the  light,  intending  to  continue 
on  until  he  should  sight  it,  and  then  make  camp  for 
the  night.  When  eight  o'clock  came,  and  there  was 
no  sign  of  it,  he  became  decidedly  uneasy.  There 
was  a  possibility  that  Barbara  and  Naomi  had  made 
their  camp  in  a  shelter  which  would  serve  to  hide 
the  light  from  him,  but  it  seemed  unlikely,  owing  to 
the  extreme  barrenness  of  this  part  of  the  country. 
Besides,  Lisle  figured  that  Naomi  would  surely  real- 
ize the  difficulties  under  which  he  followed  their 
trail  during  the  storm,  and  accordingly  would  be 
liable  to  make  her  fire  where  he  could  see  it. 

It  was  about  two  hours  later  when  Lisle,  now 
thoroughly  mystified  and  alarmed,  halted  his  dogs, 
and  with  a  sudden  feeling  of  apprehension  ran  for- 
ward to  investigate  more  closely  the  tracks  of  the 


134  THE  TANG 

trail  they  followed.  The  result  of  his  investigation 
corroborated  all  too  clearly  the  fear  which  had 
gripped  his  heart  —  which  seemed  now  to  stand  still 
as  though  threatening  never  to  beat  again.  For  the 
trail  which  they  had  been  following  ended  abruptly 
within  five  feet  of  Kazak,  the  leader  of  the  dogs,  and 
the  maker  of  the  tracks  had  retraced  them!  It  was 
obviously  and  unmistakably  an  attempt  —  and  under 
cover  of  the  darkness  a  successful  one  —  to  throw 
any  pursuing  team  off  the  trail! 

That  Naomi  would  deliberately  attempt  to  mislead 
him,  Lisle  knew  was  out  of  the  question.  There 
was  only  one  solution  to  the  unexpected  turn  events 
had  taken.  He  had  been  mistaken  in  his  deductions 
at  the  finding  of  the  broken  pipe  bowl.  Either 
Naomi  had  recently  acquired  the  habit  so  prevalent 
among  the  older  squaws,  or  she  and  Barbara  had 
somehow  come  into  possession  of  the  pipe  and  had 
thrown  it  away  on  the  remains  of  their  fire.  At  any 
rate  there  was  no  question  but  that  he  was  follow- 
ing the  wrong  trail. 

That  it  was  futile  to  attempt  to  overtake  them 
now,  was  apparent.  Even  if  Naomi  should  discover 
that  Lisle  was  not  behind  them  and  should  delay, 


THE  TANG  135 

there  would'  be  little  chance  of  finding  their  trail 
again,  which  for  at  least  forty  miles  would  be  totally 
obliterated  by  the  snow.  There  was  but  one  thing 
to  do,  and  that  was  to  take  the  shortest  cut  to  the 
Bay  and  trust  that  they  would  eventually  find  trace 
of  those  they  sought.  They  would  go  to  Fort 
Churchill  where  they  would  enquire  if  the  two 
women  had  been  seen,  and  would  stock  up  with  more 
provisions  and  ammunition. 

To  say  that  both  Lisle  and  Blake  were  appalled  at 
the  enormity  of  their  error,  and  the  consequences 
it  involved,  is  to  put  it  mildly.  Each  considered 
himself  entirely  to  blame,  and  secretly  swore  to  un- 
dergo any  hardship  which  would  serve  to  help 
shorten  the  time  required  to  reach  the  east. 

Lisle  would  have  mushed  on  without  food  or  rest 
except  that  he  felt  the  dogs  could  not  again  be  put 
tc  the  strain  under  which  they  had  been,  without 
disastrous  results.  Blake  determined  to  eat  beans 
at  any  cost,  so  that  he  might  gain  strength  enough 
to  go  part  way  on  foot,  thereby  lightening  the 
load. 

It  was  well  indeed  that  he  succeeded  this  time  bet- 
ter than  before,  for  the  cold  spell  which  Lisle  had 
anticipated  followed  immediately  after  the  storm. 


136  THE  TANG 

Lisle  refused  to  take  the  fur  coat  from  Blake,  know- 
ing that  to  deprive  the  man  of  it  now  might  be  fatal 
to  him  in  his  weakened  condition.  The  exercise  of 
running  beside  the  sleds  was  still  almost  sufficient  to 
keep  Lisle  warm,  and  he  stopped  frequently  to  make 
hot  coffee.  He  kept  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  tracks 
of  game  which  would  now  come  out  from  the  cover 
of  the  snow  and  go  abroad  in  search  of  food. 

At  first  the  only  tracks  he  discovered  were  those 
of  lynxes,  broad  and  rounded,  now  and  then  show- 
ing where  a  series  of  leaps  had  been  made.  They 
usually  led  from  thicket  to  thicket,  where  hares, 
grouse,  or  other  small  game  might  occur.  Once,  as 
they  were  rounding  the  base  of  a  high  cliff,  they 
witnessed,  far  above,  the  killing  of  a  mountain  sheep 
by  one  of  the  long-legged,  short-bodied  cats.  The 
lynx  sprang  from  a  ledge  upon  the  sheep  as  it  passed 
beneath,  and  thus  taking  its  victim  by  surprise,  soon 
reduced  it  to  helplessness. 

They  came,  again,  to  the  erratic,  meandering 
tracks  of  a  fox,  sometimes  running  parallel  with 
their  trail  for  many  miles,  giving  evidence  of  the 
animal's  industrious  stalking  of  some  one  of  the 
many  items  of  its  bill  of  fare. 

"  Kenai  fox,  I  think,"  said  Lisle,  after  examining 


THE  TANG  137 

the  tracks  and  remarking  upon  their  large  size. 
"  Its  ancestors  must  have  wandered  clear  in  from 
Alaska.  I  wish  he'd  chase  a  nice  fat  hare  in  our 
direction." 

Whether  Lisle's  desire  materialized  literally  or 
not  is  a  matter  for  speculation.  Nevertheless  it  was 
scarcely  twenty  minutes  after  he  had  expressed  it 
that  the  third  of  their  precious  shots  found  its  way 
into  the  vitals  of  one  of  the  little  white  creatures. 

"  Another  little  furry  soul  gone  on,"  remarked 
Lisle,  making  an  attempt  at  the  conversation  which 
seemed  so  difficult  owing  to  the  weight  which  lay 
upon  their  spirits. 

"  He's  given  his  life  in  a  good  cause,  however,  and 
here's  hoping  he'll  be  properly  rewarded." 

Blake  ate  the  stew  Lisle  made  from  the  hare  with 
the  relish  of  one  near  starvation.  And  when  on  the 
following  day  Lisle  shot  what  he  had  been  hoping 
to  for  so  long,  a  caribou,  which  would  last  until 
they  should  reach  Fort  Churchill,  he  felt  that  a  large 
part  of  the  load  which  had  been  on  his  mind  had 
been  lifted. 

After  three  more  days  and  nights,  during  which 
the  weather,  though  quite  cold,  was  hardly  so  intense 
as  Lisle  had  anticipated,  Blake  was  able  to  relinquish 


138  THE  TANG 

to  Lisle  his  fur  coat,  and  to  take  his  first  run  along- 
side the  sleds.  And  as  he  was  adept  at  the  handling 
of  snowshoes,  they  were  able  to  make  considerably 
better  time  than  heretofore. 

And  so  for  a  week  and  a  half,  Lisle  and  Blake, 
the  tenderfoot,  with  Kazak  and  his  followers  run- 
ning once  more  with  ears  and  tails  erect,  mushed  on 
over  the  hard  crust  toward  the  east. 

And  then,  one  night  as  they  camped  in  the  open 
under  a  sky  filled  with  icy  stars  and  a  crescent  moon, 
something  which  sang  a  song  of  hot  steel  and  freez- 
ing air  as  it  came,  whizzed  out  of  the  grey  space  and 
into  the  breast  of  John  Lisle.  Uttering  a  low 
wheezing  gasp  he  started  up,  tottered,  and  fell  for- 
ward on  his  face. 

Somewhere  far  to  the  northward,  in  the  middle  of 
a  snowfield  which  appeared  to  stretch  on  into  illim- 
itable space  on  every  side,  an  Indian  woman  lay 
stretched  between  her  blankets  beside  a  fire  which 
was  kept  burning  almost  constantly,  feigning  illness. 

Tending  her  solicitously,  with  never  a  murmur 
of  impatience  at  the  delay  in  the  pursuit  of  her  quest, 
was  a  lovely  girl,  whose  wide  eyes  somehow  re- 
minded the  squaw  of  the  shadows  which  the  slender 


THE  TANG  139 

fur-clad  figure  cast  upon  the  white  carpet  on  which 
they  camped. 

On  a  blanket  at  the  opposite  side  of  the  fire  lay  a 
great  silver-black  dog  who  kept  his  steady  eyes  ever 
upon  the  figure  of  the  girl,  and  one  of  whose  fore- 
legs lay  stiff  and  bandaged  beneath  his  long  shaggy 
head. 

Occasionally,  when  the  girl's  back  was  turned  to 
her,  the  Indian  woman  would  raise  herself  on  her 
elbow  and  peer  back  in  the  direction  from  which  led 
the  tracks  of  their  sleds. 

And  strangely  enough,  when  the  woman  appeared 
to  be  sleeping,  the  girl  would  stand  for  long  mo- 
ments with  her  face  turned  toward  the  west,  her 
shadowed  eyes  ever  searching  for  a  tiny  moving 
speck  in  the  daytime,  or  the  glimmer  of  a  light  at 
night. 

She  smiled  as  she  turned  to  where  the  squaw  lay 
in  her  stolid  pretense,  for  the  girl  knew  that  it  was 
the  excuse  for  a  delay  until  their  protector  should 
once  more  appear  at  his  post. 

As  the  days  went  by  and  there  was  still  no  sign  of 
him,  the  girl  began  to  fear  for  what  might  have  hap- 
pened. And  serving  not  in  the  least  to  lessen  her 
anxiety  was  the  disturbing  memory  of  their  second 


140  THE  TANG 

meeting,  somewhere  back  on  the  trail,  with  that  spec- 
tacular murderer  with  the  eyes  of  a  child,  Lord 
Harold,  of  County  Surrey. 

The  Indian  woman's  thoughts  were  also  beginning 
to  be  filled  with  apprehension,  and  they,  too,  were 
centered  around  the  outlaw,  but  they  were  concerned 
with  an  entirely  different  possibility  —  the  memory 
of  the  broken  bowl  of  a  pipe  which,  with  keen  pre- 
cison,  she  had  shot  from  between  the  lips  which  had 
smiled  and  mocked  at  her,  as  for  the  second  time  she 
had  warned  their  owner  away.  And  it  was  with 
keen  remorse  that  she  now  realized  the  possible  re- 
sults of  her  seemingly  inconsequential  act  of  throw- 
ing away  the  object  which  she  had  at  first  intended 
keeping  for  a  reason  known  only  to  herself. 

And  so  while  Lisle  lay  with  a  bullet  in  his  breast 
fully  sixty  miles  to  the  southeast  of  them,  Barbara 
and  Naomi  camped  on  the  snowfields,  waiting  for 
the  light  of  his  fire  to  appear  on  the  western  horizon ! 


CHAPTER  SEVEN 

The  bullet  which  came  out  of  the  darkness  passed 
through  Lisle's  breast  just  below  his  right  shoulder. 
For  two  days  it  was  a  question  indeed  as  to  whether 
or  not  he  had  reached  the  end  of  his  last  trail.  On 
the  second  day  it  seemed  that  the  Siren  of  the  North 
who  had  lured  him  there  was  at  last  showing  her 
true  colors —  for  when  the  man's  life  might  easily 
have  been  spared  under  normal  conditions,  she  let 
loose  upon  him  and  the  thin  white-faced  man  who 
tended  him,  her  white  dogs  of  the  north, —  grim, 
bitter -cold  —  and  another  storm. 

And  this  storm  did  not  come  as  had  the  one  be- 
fore it,  steady,  even,  enduring  —  but  it  came  with 
a  roar  which  seemed  to  have  in  it  all  the  menace  and 
malice  of  ten  million  savage  throats  calling  for  the 
life's  blood  of  these  two  human  atoms  who  had 
dared  to  trespass  so  far  into  their  domain.  It 
crashed  against  the  tiny  silk  tent  of  the  wayfarers 
like  the  lash  of  a  giant  whip.  It  lifted  the  edges  of 
their  shelter  and  drove  its  missiles  of  white  shot 

141 


142  THE  TANG 

beneath  it.  There  was  nothing  in  all  the  North 
country  that  was  sacred  from  the  vending  of  its 
fury,  and  it  later  went  down  into  the  history  of  the 
land  as  the  most  terrible  storm  in  fifty  years. 

Men  on  their  traplines,  unable  to  reach  the  shelter 
of  their  tents  or  shacks,  perished  and  were  buried 
in  a  cold  white  grave,  and  the  country  was  a  verita- 
ble cemetery  of  the  creatures  of  the  wild.  It  was 
difficult  to  imagine,  in  the  face  of  this  terrible  white 
monarchy,  that  a  multi-colored  democratic  summer 
had  ever  been  sovereign  over  the  land,  or  would  ever 
reign  again. 

It  was  only  the  dogged  perseverance  of  Blake,  the 
tenderfoot,  that  pulled  Lisle  past  the  point  of  death 
and  compelled  him  to  struggle  for  further  exist- 
ence in  a  world  which  now  seemed  like  a  hell  to 
him  —  a  frozen  white  hell, —  and  more  bitterly  cold 
perhaps  than  any  other  man  lying  at  death's  door 
had  ever  survived.  To  Lisle,  who  felt  that  he  had 
so  utterly  and  so  terribly  failed  in  the  greatest  "  com- 
mission "  of  his  life,  there  seemed  little  indeed 
worth  the  struggle  which  Blake  was  ever  urging 
him  to  make.  There  was  practically  no  hope  what- 
ever that  he  would  be  able1  to  help  Barbara  now. 
He  did  not  think  that  she  would  perish  in  the  storm. 


THE  TANG  143 

She  had  seemed  too  superbly  alive  for  that,  too  well 
equipped  with  those  forces  of  resistance  with  which 
Nature  has  endowed  us  all,  but  which  in  some  have 
been  weakened  and  impoverished.  She  would  not 
perish.  But  her  quest  would  lead  her  where  there 
were  a  hundred  and  one  reasons  why  she  might 
need  him.  Aside  from  this,  to  be  near  her,  to  pro- 
tect her,  was  his  sworn  duty  as  well  as  his  utmost 
desire,  and  the  fact  that  he  had  failed  so  completely 
was  like  a  poisoned  arrow  in  his  heart. 

But  Danny  Blake  had  not  given  up  hope.  Ten- 
derfoot though  he  was,  and  by  no  means  a  well 
man,  he  nevertheless  was  not  in  the  depression  of 
spirit  which  accompanied  the  condition  caused  by 
Lisle's  wound,  though  his  heart  was  heavy  with  the 
firm  conviction  that  he  alone  had  been  the  cause  of 
their  predicament. 

Blake  knew,  as  Lisle  did  not,  that  Barbara  did 
not  love  him,  and  therefore  it  was  not  for  any  hope 
of  reward  that  he  kept  up  the  courage  which  was 
the  only  thing  which  pulled  them  both  through.  It 
was  enough  for  Blake  that  he  loved  Barbara  and 
that  she  needed  the  protection  of  Lisle. 

Also,  Blake  was  not  so  certain  as  Lisle  that  Bar- 
bara would  successfully  weather  the  storm.  It  was 


144  THE  TANG 

not  given  to  him  to  measure  the  physical  fitness  of 
things.  He  thought  of  her  only  as  a  beautiful,  ten- 
der thing,  bred  and  reared  in  the  sunshine  of  life, 
surrounded  always  by  the  comforts  and  ease  of  her 
civilization  —  a  fragile  flower,  as  far  removed  from 
the  hardy  wild  things  that  were  fashioned  to  with- 
stand the  onslaught  of  the  elements  as  could  be 
imagined.  And  somewhere  out  there  in  that  illimit- 
able swirl  of  white  piling  shot  was  this  flower, 
surely  bending,  if  not  breaking  altogether  beneath 
its  fury! 

Blake  knew  that  he  could  never  fill  Lisle's  place 
as  her  protector  —  that  he  could  not  handle  the  dogs 
or  find  the  trail  —  or  having  found  her,  meet  the 
emergencies  which  that  protector  might  be  called 
upon  to  meet  and  which  were  so  foreign  to  him. 
There  was  only  one  thing  that  he  was  fit  to  do  — 
and  that  was  to  utilize  every  atom  of  his  strength 
to  make  Lisle  live! 

He  did  not  know  just  why  he  had  followed  Bar- 
bara to  the  North  country,  and  further,  on  the  trail 
of  her  quest.  It  was  not  because  he  expected  her 
to  change  her  mind  in  regard  to  him.  He  knew 
her  well  enough  to  recognize  the  finality  of  that  last 
letter.  Also  he  was  learning  the  significance  of  her 


THE  TANG  145 

reference  to  the  "  tang."  He  knew  that  there  were 
men  who  loved  this  life  which  spelled  nothing  but 
privation  and  discomfort  and  loneliness  to  him. 
And  it  was  one  of  these  men  —  a  man  such  as  the 
one  who  lay  wounded  on  the  bunk  —  that  Barbara 
would  love. 

He  had  come  to  the  North  in  obedience  to  some 
overwhelming  compulsion  which  he  had  seemed 
powerless  to  resist.  Even  Barbara's  admonition 
"  do  not  try  to  find  me,"  had  not  been  sufficient  to 
swerve  him  from  what  he  knew  to  be  an  utterly 
hopeless  course.  He  did  not  know  that  he  would 
even  give  notice  of  his  presence  should  he  get  near 
enough  to  her  to  do  so.  To  be  of  help  to  her  had 
not  occurred  to  him.  He  was  too  much  of  a  tender- 
foot to  be  that  in  this  land  of  snows.  To  be  near 
her  —  to  know  that  only  a  few,  rather  than  a  few 
thousand  miles  lay  between  him  and  the  only  thing 
in  the  world  for  which  he  cared,  seemed  to  be  his 
sole  object  or  excuse  for  the  course  he  had  chosen. 

But  now  it  seemed  that  after  all  there  was  a  rea- 
son more  worthy  than  this  why  he  had  come.  He 
knew  that  Lisle  would  have  perished  where  he  lay 
in  the  snow  with  the  bullet  in  his  breast  if  he  had 
been  alone.  Barbara  needed  Lisle.  And  now  there 


146  THE  TANG 

was  a  chance,  slim  though  it  seemed  in  the  face  of 
the  raging  white  terror  about  them,  that  he  would 
live.  And  Danny  Blake  must  be  the  one  to  pull  him 
through ! 

Lisle  lived  —  and  it  was  Danny  Blake  who  pulled 
him  through.  With  a  never  tiring  vigil,  with  the 
tenderness  of  a  woman,  the  tenacity  of  a  man  who 
has  centered  every  atom  of  his  spirit  and  soul  upon 
the  attainment  of  one  object,  he  fought  the  merciless 
white  fingers  of  death  until  he  won.  He  did  not 
win  gloriously,  suddenly,  but  slowly,  and  so  pains- 
takingly that  it  seemed  to  drain  the  very  dregs  of  his 
being  to  do  it.  Not  only  was  it  necessary  for  him 
to  nurse  Lisle  through  the  crisis  of  the  three  days 
and  three  nights  of  the  storm,  but  it  was  necessary 
for  him  to  keep  him  from  slipping  back  again 
through  the  terrible  cold  spell  which  followed.  For 
a  week  after  the  last  crash  of  wind  and  the  last 
avalanche  of  snow  the  mercury  clung  to  seventy 
below  at  night  and  rose  only  ten  degrees  in  the  day 
time.  There  was  no  sign  or  sound  of  life  of  any 
kind.  Across  the  dead  and  buried  land  came  now 
and  again  the  distant  pistol  shot  snaps  of  the  trees 
in  the  forests  far  to  the  south,  which  were  the  only 


THE  TANG  147 

things  standing  sufficiently  upright  to  mark  the  end 
of  one  buried  swamp,  or  open  barren,  or  charred 
burn,  and  the  beginning  of  another.  The  animals 
which  had  buried  themselves  beneath  the  snow  would 
never  push  their  way  up  through  the  iron  crust,  or  if 
they  did,  would  perish  soon  after  from  the  intense 
cold  and  lack  of  food.  Only  those  which  had  found 
their  way  to  dens,  or  caves,  or  closely  tangled  wind- 
falls, would  venture  out  again  and  these  not  until 
hunger  drove  them.  Even  the  cry  of  the  wolf  pack, 
which  they  had  heard  several  times  before  the  storm, 
was  missing. 

Ever  cheerful,  untiring,  his  tall  slim  figure  seem- 
ing to  grow  smaller  each  day,  and  his  fine  sensitive 
face  bearing  scarcely  a  resemblance  to  its  former 
likeness,  Danny  Blake  continued  to  minister  to  his 
wounded  comrade.  His  wistful  eyes  seemed  to 
grow  larger  and  deeper  and  they  shone  with  almost 
an  unearthly  light.  On  his  chin  and  lip  was  a  dark 
stubble  growth  of  hair.  Blake  had  been  too  much 
occupied  with  his  duties  to  bother  about  himself. 
In  fact  he  scarcely  thought  about  himself  at  all.  It 
was  for  this  reason,  perhaps,  that  he  was  able  to  go 
through  what  two  weeks  before  both  he  and  Lisle 
would  have  considered  impossible. 


148  THE  TANG 

At  the  end  of  the  week  of  terrific  cold  the  mercury 
rose  to  forty.  Lisle  rallied,  and  Blake  got  a  little  of 
the  rest  which  he  so  sorely  needed.  But  as  though 
with  the  lessening  of  the  tension  under  which  he 
had  been  something  snapped  within  him,  he  woke 
Lisle  one  morning  with  the  uncanny  mutterings  and 
the  strange  jargon  of  one  ill  with  a  raging  fever. 

Lisle  dragged  himself  painfully  to  where  the  un- 
conscious man  lay,  and  for  the  first  time,  as  he 
looked  into  the  thin  fever-seared  face,  he  realized 
what  Blake  had  done  for  him. 

"  And  I  called  him  a  tenderfoot! "  groaned  Lisle. 

For  two  days  Blake  tossed  and  moaned  on  his 
blankets  —  and  often  to  his  lips  came  the  name  of 
Barbara.  Lisle  cared  for  him  as  best  he  could,  but 
his  own  pain  and  weakness  were  still  so  great  that 
his  efforts  were  woefully  slow  and  inefficient.  At 
first  he  could  not  feed  the  dogs,  he  could  not  get 
fuel  for  the  fire  after  the  supply  which  Blake  had 
laid  up  in  one  corner  of  the  tent  was  gone.  But 
after  two  days  of  intense  suffering  from  the  cold, 
and  impelled  doubly  by  the  increasing  unrest  of  the 
famished  huskies,  Lisle  made  one  supreme  effort 


THE  TANG  149 

and  dragged  himself  through  the  snow  to  where  the 
rest  of  the  grubsacks  and  the  fuel  lay  buried. 

When  Blake  came  back  to  consciousness  his  first 
thought  was  for  Lisle. 

"  Good  God !  "  he  groaned,  realizing  in  a  sudden 
rush  what  had  happened,  "  you  can't  —  I  must  — " 

"  Lie  still,"  said  Lisle,  "  you're  worse  off  than  I 
am.  Don't  try  to  get  up.  You'll  gain  time  in  the 
end  if  you  don't.  We'll  have  to  stick  it  out  the  best 
we  can  —  together." 

"  Listen  to  that,"  Lisle  said  a  few  nights  later, 
"  the  night  raiders  are  on  the  trail  of  food.  That's 
the  first  sound  I've  heard  since  the  storm,  and  hor- 
rible as  it  is,  it  sounds  almost  good  to  me." 

It  was  the  deep-throated  hunting  cry  of  the  wolf 
pack  —  a  hungry  pack  by  now,  and  with  little  chance 
of  finding  food.  Blake  shivered.  There  was  noth- 
ing companionable  in  the  sound  for  him.  It  was  but 
one  more  voice  of  this  merciless  white  wilderness  — 
one  more  battle  cry  of  the  myriad  invincible  forces 
that  were  pitted  against  the  life  of  man.  As  the 
sound  grew  nearer  he  could  feel  the  pores  of  his 
skin  rise  in  a  wave  of  dread  —  the  instinctive  recog- 
nition of  an  age-old  enemy. 


150  THE  TANG 

There  was  a  stir  among  the  sledge-dogs  as  the 
cry  came  steadily  nearer.  They  pricked  up  their 
ears  and  listened  intently,  some  whined,  and  all 
huddled  more  closely  together.  But  there  was  no 
trail  in  the  snow  with  the  man  scent  upon  it,  the 
wolves  were  running  down  wind,  and  there  was  no 
campfire  light  to  attract  them.  Therefore  they 
passed  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  tent  without 
discovering  it,  and  finally  swung  south,  and  the 
sound  of  their  hunting  cry  died  slowly  away. 

The  wolf -pack  did  not  find  food  that  night  —  nor 
the  next  —  nor  for  many  another.  There  was  a 
reason  for  this.  It  was  the  same  reason  which  kept 
Lisle  and  Blake  from  attempting  to  move  on  in  spite 
of  their  condition,  and  which,  sixty  miles  to  the 
northeast,  delayed  Lord  Harold  in  accomplishing  his 
third  and  carefully  planned  meeting  with  the  beau- 
tiful white  girl  and  the  Indian  woman.  The  reason 
was  another  storm. 

As  Lisle  had  thought,  Barbara  did  not  perish  in 
the  storm,  nor  did  it  do  more  than  cause  her  the  dis- 
comfort of  the  intense  cold  which  could  not  alto- 
gether be  eliminated  from  the  small  easily  heated 
tent.  Her  outfit  had  been  more  carefully  provided 


THE  TANG  151 

by  Lisle  than  it  would  have  been  for  a  veteran  of 
the  snows. 

It  was  the  dread  which  lay  in  her  heart  concerning 
Lisle  which  caused  the  look  that  Naomi  saw  in  the 
girl's  eyes  and  which  made  the  Indian  woman  won- 
der. 

Something  must  indeed  have  happened  to  Lisle. 
They  had  waited  for  him  now  for  three  weeks. 
Dread  pictures  passed  through  Barbara's  mind  — 
pictures  of  this  man  lying  somewhere  in  the  snow 
—  alone  —  wounded  perhaps  —  for  she  knew  that 
to  the  outlaws  of  the  North  country  one  red  coat  is 
as  worthy  a  target  as  another.  And  the  storm. 
Where  was  he  through  that?  Once  she  almost  de- 
cided to  tell  Naomi  that  she  knew  why  they  had  been 
waiting  —  and  that  she  wanted  to  go  back  to  see  if 
they  could  find  him.  After  all,  the  search  for  Steve 
might  as  well  lead  one  way  as  another.  But  Barbara 
knew  that  Naomi  was  also  worried,  and  that  al- 
though the  Indian  woman  had  not  that  other  thing 
in  her  heart  for  him,  nevertheless  she  would  choose 
the  wisest  course  in  regard  to  him,  and  there  might 
be  any  number  of  reasons  known  to  this  veteran 
of  the  snows  why  they  should  not  go  back. 

Barbara    was    not    sufficiently    schooled    in    the 


152  THE  TANG 

methods  of  the  North  country  to  have  given  the 
incident  of  the  discarded  pipe-bowl  any  significance. 
In  fact  it  is  doubtful  if  she  noticed  that  Naomi  had 
either  kept  it  or  thrown  it  away.  The  only  solution 
to  Lisle's  absence,  to  her,  was  that  he  was  in  danger, 
or  worse,  had  met  a  lonely  death  on  the  snowfields. 

If  she  had  but  half  realized  before  that  she  loved 
him,  there  was  no  doubt  in  her  mind  whatever,  now. 
When  he  had  been  near  her,  and  safe,  the  answer  to 
this  question  might  have  been  postponed  in  the  face 
of  the  more  important  matter  of  her  quest.  But 
now  as  she  waited  day  after  day  here  on  the  limitless 
snowfield  and  yet  he  did  not  come,  she  knew  that  she 
loved  him  as  she  had  believed  she  would  some  day 
love  some  man  —  some  man  who  had  in  his  blood 
this  thing  which  she  called  the  "  tang."  And  it  was 
with  a  terrified  grip  at  her  heart  that  she  realized 
that  this  very  "  tang  "  which  had  first  lured  him  to 
this  land,  might  already  have  exacted  its  toll  of  him, 
as  it  had  of  so  many  others. 

Barbara's  reliance  on  the  judgment  of  Naomi  was 
well  placed.  The  Indian  woman  was  fairly  con- 
vinced by  now  that  Lisle  had  been  misled  by  the  pipe- 
bowl  and  had  taken  the  trail  of  Lord  Harold  which 
had  crossed  their  own,  and  she  therefore  finally 


THE  TANG  153 

determined  that  nothing  could  be  gained  by  waiting 
further  for  him  on  the  snowfields.  What  might 
have  happened  on  the  trail  of  the  outlaw,  she  could 
only  imagine  —  but  at  any  rate,  to  go  on  to  the  east, 
in  which  direction  Lisle  knew  they  were  bound, 
seemed  the  only  wise  course.  He  was  certain  to 
discover  his  mistake  sooner  or  later,  she  thought,  and 
would  be  unlikely,  on  account  of  the  storm,  to  make 
an  attempt  to  find  their  trail  agan.  Rather,  he 
would  doubtless  continue  on,  possibly  to  Ft. 
Churchill. 

Accordingly,  upon  the  cessation  of  the  storm, 
Naomi  appeared  to  have  a  most  remarkable  recovery 
from  her  lingering  illness,  camp  was  broken,  and 
they  moved  on  once  more  into  the  dazzling  east. 

The  wound  which  Silver  had  suffered  from  the 
gun  of  Lord  Harold,  was  now  healed  sufficiently 
for  him  to  limp  alongside  the  sleds.  When  they 
had  encountered  the  outlaw  for  the  second  time, 
Silver  had  leaped  snarling  and  snapping  at  the  end 
of  the  thong  which  tied  him  to  the  gee-bar  of  Bar- 
bara's sledge,  where  she  had  been  compelled  to  put 
him  on  account  of  his  ever  increasing  enmity  toward 
the  huskies.  The  dog's  first  lunge  had  been  when 
the  outlaw  was  still  over  a  hundred  yards  distant. 


154  THE  TANG 

He  was  coming  down  wind,  and  as  his  scent  reached 
Silver  the  dog  seemed  suddenly  to  go  wild.  The 
third  lunge  of  the  silver-black  body  wrenched  the 
thong  from  the  gee-bar,  and  the  life  of  the  outlaw 
was  saved  only  by  the  shot  which  wounded  the  dog's 
leg  and  delayed  his  second  attack  until  Barbara  had 
grasped  his  collar. 

"  You  got  my  coat,  the  last  time,"  the  outlaw  had 
said,  "  but  you'll  get  nothing  more  while  I  can  hold 
a  gun !  " 

For  the  remainder  o*f  the  journey  until  they  made 
camp  on  their  wait  for  Lisle,  Barbara  tucked  Silver 
in  beside  her  in  the  sledge,  or  permitted  him  the 
whole  of  it  when  she  traveled  on  foot. 

The  enmity  between  Silver  and  the  leader  of  the 
sledge  dogs,  called  Boz,  a  powerful  Alaskan  husky 
three-quarter  strain  wild,  was  becoming  so  pro- 
nounced as  to  cause  the  two  women  to  keep  continual 
watch  that  the  two  might  not  get  near  enough  to 
fight.  Silver  was  tied  inside  the  tent  at  night  and 
Barbara  kept  him  always  by  her  side  when  they 
made  camp  for  the  noon-day  meal. 

It  was  on  the  first  day  of  the  somewhat  milder 
storm  which  followed  the  one  which  had  broken  the 
fifty-year  record  of  the  Northland,  that  the  first  real 


THE  TANG  155 

trouble  came.  They  had  stopped  for  the  noon  meal, 
and  Naomi  had  gone  forward  to  bring  in  the  grub 
sacks.  Barbara  left  Silver's  side  for  a  moment  to 
examine  one  of  her  snowshoes  which  had  seemed 
loose  during  the  morning  mush.  On  her  way  back 
with  the  grub  sacks,  the  Indian  woman  stopped  to 
feed  the  huskies,  as  was  her  practice.  Silver  was 
quick  to  see  his  advantage.  He  stole  forth  to  where 
Boz  the  leader  was  rapidly  devouring  a  piece  of  meat, 
and  with  one  long  leap  and  a  snap  of  his  powerful 
jaws,  he  snatched  the  meat  from  the  very  mouth  of 
the  husky.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  the  Alaskan 
dog  was  upon  him,  and  the  fight  which  Silver  had 
deliberately  invited  was  begun.  Each  with  the 
slashing,  sabre-like  stroke  of  the  north  dog  they 
fought.  Barbara  and  Naomi  called  to  Silver  in 
vain.  For  once  he  was  beyond  the  recall  of  the 
voice  of  his  mistress.  With  a  cry  of  horror  the  girl 
saw  the  long  black  body  of  the  Mackenzie  hound  go 
down  beneath  that  of  the  Alaskan  —  the  struggle  of 
the  under  dog  grow  slower  and  more  feeble  as  the 
fangs  of  his  opponent  plunged  deeper  into  the  silver 
throat.  They  missed  the  jugular  vein  by  the  tiniest 
fraction  of  an  inch,  but  the  other  dogs  did  not  know 
this.  Their  enemy  was  down.  He  had  ceased 


156  THE  TANG 

kicking  and  the  fangs  of  their  leader  were  buried  in 
his  throat.  It  was  time  for  them  to  close  in  and 
help  finish  the  fight.  With  fangs  clicking  and  their 
low  eager  whines  turned  to  savage  growls  and  snarls 
they  hurled  into  the  melee. 

It  was  Naomi  who  saved  the  life  of  Silver.  But 
to  do  it  she  was  obliged  to  shoot  five  of  the  dogs, 
including  Boz.  The  other  three  she  managed  to  club 
away  from  the  victim.  Seeing  their  leader  lying  in 
the  snow,  killed  instantly  from  Naomi's  fire,  they 
finally  ran  from  before  the  raining  blows  of  the 
club. 

Barbara  had  never  before  witnessed  a  sight  so 
terrible,  and  she  was  white  and  trembling  as  she  knelt 
over  the  bleeding  and  unconscious  Silver.  Naomi 
bathed  the  dog's  wounds  and  bandaged  his  leg  again, 
which  was  probably  the  cause  of  the  other  dog's 
gaining  the  advantage.  Ordinarily  he  would  hardly 
have  been  a  match  for'  the  Mackenzie  hound. 

With  four  of  their  team  dogs  gone  and  Silver 
unfit  for  service  in  the  traces,  Barbara  traveled  on 
foot  altogether.  They  moved  much  more  slowly 
than  heretofore.  The  snow  fell  steadily  and  sharp 
gusts  of  wind  blew  it  across  their  faces,  blinding 
them.  Several  times  the  Indian  woman  would  have 


THE  TANG  157 

made  camp,  but  Barbara  insisted  upon  going  on. 

The  storm  lasted  two  days  and  then  the  sun  once 
more  turned  the  world  about  them  into  a  blaze  of 
crystal  darts.  They  labored  on  for  a  week  more 
over  the  dazzling  iron  sheet.  Often,  toward  the  end 
of  it,  Barbara  would  brush  her  hand  across  her  eyes 
as  though  to  sweep  away  a  film  which  seemed  to 
come  over  them.  She  had  seen  Naomi  do  this,  too, 
and  there  was  a  strange  red  cast  to  the  Indian 
woman's  eyes.  And  though  she  told -the  girl  nothing 
of  snow-blindness,  Naomi  made  her  bathe  her  eyes 
often  in  strong  tea,  an  Indian  remedy,  and  she  her- 
self did  likewise. 

Silver  recovered  quickly  from  his  wounds  under 
tender  care,  and  was  soon  able  again  to  limp  beside 
the  sleds.  He  was  still  unable  to  be  harnessed  with 
the  other  dogs,  but  it  was  necessary  to  lighten  the 
load  as  much  as  possible. 

And  then  one  afternoon  Naomi  stopped  suddenly 
and  halted  the  dogs.  With  the  only  cry  of  emotion 
that  Barbara  had  ever  heard  from  the  stolid  lips  the 
woman  brushed  her  hand  across  her  eyes  and  then 
turned  slowly  to  the  girl.  The  red  film  was  over 
them  —  thicker  and  more  terrible.  Naomi  was 
snow-blind ! 


158  THE  TANG 

n 

It  was  with  a  sinking  heart  that  Barbara  realized 
just  what  this  meant,  not  only  to  the  Indian  woman 
herself,  but  to  their  quest.  Naomi  was  the  guide, 
and  a  blind  guide  is  useless.  Besides,  Barbara  had 
felt  the  dreaded  film  upon  her  own  eyes  growing 
thicker  each  day. 

In  vain  Naomi  bathed  with  the  tea.  She  was  no 
longer  young  and  the  eyes  which  had  so  often  with- 
stood the  merciless  glare  of  the  sun  on  the  snow  had 
lost  some  of  their  powers  of  resistance. 

The  fact  that  Naomi  could  no  longer  guide  the 
dogs  was  not  to  be  doubted.  Barbara  would  be 
compelled  to  drive.  Naomi  refused  to  sit  in  the 
sledge,  but  tied  her  right  arm  to  Barbara's  left  with 
a  long  leather  thong.  And  so  with  the  Indian 
woman  towed  behind  her  and  Silver  at  the  head  of 
the  dogs,  the  girl  whom  Danny  Blake  thought  too 
fragile  to  weather  the  elements  of  the  Northland, 
drove  the  team  of  four  huskies  across  the  snow 
toward  her  goal. 

But  though  blind,  Naomi  was  not  altogether  use- 
less. 

"  Keep  into  path  of  sun,"  she  told  Barbara,  "  east, 
always!" 

But  as  though  in  deliberate  challenge,  a  great  bank 


THE  TANG  159 

of  clouds  came  up  out  of  the  north  and  covered  the 
sun  —  a  bank  so  dense  that  the  days  seemed  like 
continual  twilight  —  and  for  four  days  there  was  no 
east  or  west,  but  just  one  endless  expanse  of  grey- 
white  snow  which  met  the  clouds  on  every  side. 

When  Naomi,  realizing  that  many  a  veteran  of 
the  snowfields  has  traveled  around  in  circles  without 
the  guidance  of  the  sun,  would  have  made  camp  until 
the  cloud  bank  disappeared,  Barbara  insisted  upon 
continuing.  Even  to  go  in  circles  somehow  seemed 
better  than  waiting  again.  Also,  there  was  a  new 
fear  in  her  heart  —  a  fear  that  made  her  almost  wish 
that  the  sun  would  not  come  out  again. 

Naomi  had  been  right.  Before  the  noon  of  the 
second  day  of  the  disappearance  of  their  beacon,  they 
had  circled  slowly  to  their  right,  and  Silver's  long 
nose  was  pointing  straight  into  the  south. 

On  the  fourth  day  the  cloud  bank  rolled  away 
without  any  fall  of  snow  and  again  the  world  was 
dazzling  white.  Almost  frantically  Barbara  urged 
the  dogs  on  as  the  film  across  her  eyes  grew  thicker. 
She  could  hardly  see  Silver  at  all  and  the  other  dogs 
were  but  a  blurred,  uneven  line  of  dark  against  a 
glaring  background.  When  they  made  camp  at 
noon,  it  was  with  groping,  uncertain  movements  that 


160  THE  TANG 

the  girl  prepared  the  meal  and  fed  the  hungry 
huskies.  Naomi  hoped  it  was  inexperience  which 
caused  this  slowness. 

As  they  moved  on  again  in  the  afternoon,  Bar- 
bara's lips  moved  often  in  the  silent  prayer  that  by 
some  miracle  she  might  be  spared  from  this  thing 
which  was  coming  upon  her.  She  stopped  twice 
during  the  afternoon  and  bathed  her  eyes  with  the 
tea. 

There  had  been  some  further  trouble  also  with  the 
dogs.  Nursing  an  ever  increasing  hatred  for  Silver, 
the  three  huskies  resented  his  having  been  put  in  the 
lead.  The  dog  behind  him  kept  snapping  at  his 
heels,  and  Silver  would  return  the  snaps  with  a  flash 
of  his  fangs  aimed  at  the  husky's  shoulder.  It  was 
with  difficulty  that  Barbara  kept  the  dogs  apart  when 
they  were  unharnessed. 

They  were  unusually  troublesome  this  afternoon. 
Twice,  now,  Silver  had  halted  almost  completely  in 
his  efforts  to  reach  his  enemy.  Each  time  it  was 
Barbara's  voice  which  prevented  a  catastrophe. 

Along  about  three  o'clock  something  else  at- 
tracted the  dogs'  attention.  They  were  running 
down  wind,  and  the  animals  had  caught  a  scent. 
It  came  from  directly  ahead  of  them,  and  it  was  the 


THE  TANG  161 

scent  of  man  and  dogs.  The  huskies  sniffed  the  air 
excitedly  and  increased  their  speed.  Then  suddenly, 
and  without  any  warning,  Silver  stopped  dead  still, 
his  fangs  bared,  a  low  growl  in  his  throat.  The 
three  huskies,  unable  to  stop  in  time,  piled  forward 
upon  him  and  one  of  the  sleds  swung  wide  to  the 
left  and  overturned.  In  an  instant  there  was  a  tur- 
moil of  snarling,  slashing  dogs,  a  splitting  and  rip- 
ping of  wood,  and  rending  of  leather  thong.  It 
was  impossible  for  them  to  do  much  harm  to  one 
another  so  long  as  the  traces,  though  severed  some- 
what, held  them  bound.  Naomi  stumbled  forward 
brandishing  the  club  and  Barbara  called  command- 
ingly  to  Silver.  And  just  then  the  thing  which  had 
attracted  the  dogs  came  dimly  into  her  darkened 
vision,  a  small  dark  blot,  growing  rapidly  larger  as 
it  came  on.  And  as  she  strained  her  eyes  in  an 
effort  to  see  through  the  veil  which  hung  across 
them,  something  seemed  suddenly  to  snap  and  the 
veil  grew  black.  The  thing  had  happened!  Bar- 
bara could  not  see! 

What  occurred  after  that  seemed  to  Barbara  like 
a  strange  and  terrible  nightmare  —  like  a  melodrama 
enacted  on  a  darkened  stage.  Out  of  the  midst  of 
her  sudden  darkness  came  the  sound  of  a  man's  voice 


1 62  THE  TANG 

yelling  at  the  snarling  dogs,  the  report  of  two  pistol 
shots,  the  dull  rain  of  heavy  blows  from  a  club,  and 
shrieks  of  savage  pain.  With  a  low  moan  she  real- 
ized her  utter  helplessness  as  she  recognized  the 
voice  of  Lord  Harold. 

"  O  God,"  she  breathed,  "  why,  oh,  why?  " 

With  a  sudden  hope  in  her  heart  she  reached  for 
her  gun.  'Naomi  had  done  the  same,  and  having 
judged  their  aim  well,  the  outlaw  found  himself  look- 
ing into  two  gleaming  steel  barrels. 

"  You  are  not  welcome,  here,"  said  the  girl,  keep- 
ing her  eyes  lowered  that  he  might  not  see  the  red 
film  upon  them. 

"  So  I  observe,"  came  the  voice  of  Lord  Harold, 
"  in  fact  so  I  have  observed  before.  Nevertheless 
it  occurs  to  me  that  I  may  be  of  some  service  to  you. 
Your  dogs  have  made  a  mess  of  your  harness,  and 
your  squaw  is  blind.  If  you  will  —  dtfnin  tlwt 
dog!" 

The  last  words  were  uttered  in  a  very  different 
tone,  and  there  was  a  loud  commotion  among  the 
dogs.  Evidently  the  outlaw  had  jumped  from  in 
range  of  the  guns,  obviously  being  more  afraid  of 
the  snarling  beast  who  was  vainly  endeavoring  to 
reach  him.  Barbara  called  to  Silver  and  turned 


THE  TANG  163 

quickly,  trying  to  keep  the  outlaw  covered.  In  that 
moment  her  ruse  was  discovered,  for  as  she  turned 
Lord  Harold  saw  the  red  film. 

;<  You  too ! "  he  exclaimed  with  a  deep  intake  of 
breath. 

Almost  subconsciously  Barbara  raised  the  gun  and 
•fired  three  times. 

"  You  might  as  well  save  your  ammunition.  You 
haven't  a  chance  of  hitting  anything,"  came  the  voice 
of  Lord  Harold,  "  and  if  you'll  kindly  calm  that 
wolf  before  I'm  forced  to  plant  a  bullet  in  his  vitals 
I'll  see  what  I  can  do  with  your  harness." 

With  a  pathetic  little  gasp  of  helplessness  Barbara 
sank  down  upon  the  snow  and  called  to  Silver.  Her 
mind  was  working  quickly.  She  must  find  some 
way  to  rid  herself  of  this  man  and  that  at  once. 
She  dared  not  refuse  to  call  Silver  for  fear  the  out- 
law would  shoot  him,  as  she  was  certain  he  would  be 
only  too  glad  to  do,  and  something  told  her  the  dog 
was  more  valuable  to  her  now  than  ever.  It  dawned 
upon  her  slowly  and  with  horror  that  there  was  only 
one  way  to  accomplish  this. 

She  would  wait  her  advantage.  He  would  speak 
—  he  would  kneel  to  mend  the  harness.  With  a 


1 64  THE  TANG 

sinking  at  her  heart  and  a  prayer  on  her  lips  that 
she  might  only  wound  and  not  kill,  she  rose  and 
started  to  feel  her  way  cautiously  forward.  But  she 
could  not  see  the  overturned  sled  and  before  she  had 
advanced  three  steps  her  snowshoe  struck  the  first 
of  the  fallen  grubsacks  and  she  fell  forward  across 
it. 

"  Guess  I'd  better  take  that  little  toy  away  from 
you,"  said  a  calm  voice  at  her  side  as  a  hand  gripped 
her  arm  and  assisted  her  to  her  feet.  "  You're  get- 
ting rough  with  it.  I'm  surprised  at  you  rather,  a 
nice  refined  girl  acting  like  a  bold  bad  bandit.  Will 
you  pass  it  to  me,  or  shall  I  take  it?  " 

With  an  exclamation  of  disgust  Barbara  threw 
the  gun  into  the  snow.  She  did  not  want  the  man 
to  touch  her  again. 

"  Neither,  eh  ?  "  said  Lord  Harold  as  he  stooped 
and  picked  it  up.  "  Game  to  the  last  inch !  Beauty 
surpassed  only  by  spunk.  I  consider  myself  fortu- 
nate indeed  to  have  —  er  —  made  your  acquaintance. 
And  now,  my  squaw,"  to  Naomi,  "  we'll  have  yours, 
and  then  we'll  begin  our  little  jaunt  —  together." 

Naomi  did  not  throw  her  gun  into  the  snow,  and 
the  outlaw  was  obliged  to  dodge  three  remarkably 
well  aimed  shots  before  he  succeeded  in  securing  it. 


THE  TANG  165 

"  Business  is  rushing,"  he  remarked  as  he 
wrenched  it  from  her  hand.  "  And  it's  liable  to  be 
more  so,  with  all  the  noise  we've  been  making. 
Consequently,  the  sooner  we  move  the  better.  The 
ladies  will  ride. 

"  Take  hold  of  your  beast,"  he  added  to  Barbara, 
"  and  I  warn  you  to  keep  hold  of  him,  while  I  har- 
ness the  others." 

Barbara  crept  forward  to  where  Silver  still  snarled 
and  strained  to  reach  the  throat  of  the  man  he  hated. 
She  wound  her  fingers  in  the  long  hair  of  his  neck 
and  fumblingly  removed  his  traces. 

The  outlaw  unharnessed  the  other  three  dogs  and 
put  them  in  with  his  own  team,  attaching  Barbara's 
sledges  to  the  rear.  Then  he  came  over  and  took 
her  by  the  arm.  The  grasp  was  not  rough  but  Bar- 
bara realized  the  futility  of  resisting  it. 

"It's  five-thirty,"  said  the  outlaw.  "We  must 
start  at  once." 

Barbara  rose  to  her  feet,  wearily.  The  last  hope 
of  a  miracle  was  gone.  She  was  absolutely  help- 
less —  with  this  murderer,  in  this  white  wilderness 
—  blind  and  alone  except  for  a  squaw  who  was  also 
blind,  and  a  dog  which  she  dared  not  loose. 

And  just  as  the  thought  crossed  her  mind,  the 


166  THE  TANG 

nearness  of  the  man  he  hated  gave  to  Silver  some 
supreme  energy,  and  with  a  writhing  motion  accom- 
panied with  a  sudden  lunge  he  freed  himself  from 
the  girl's  detaining  grasp.  With  one  long  leap  he 
had  cleared  the  space  which  lay  between  him  and 
the  outlaw. 

With  the  suddenness  of  a  cat  the  man  turned  and 
met  the  onrush  of  the  huge  animal  with  the  crouch- 
ing attitude  of  a  football  player  ready  for  a  tackle. 
His  head  caught  the  dog  squarely  in  the  stomach 
and  bowled  him  over  his  shoulder,  and  the  iron  jaws 
snapped  in  the  air  as  the  silver-black  body  fell  crash- 
ing into  the  snow.  Quick  as  a  flash,  before  the 
animal  could  spring  again,  Lord  Harold  had  whipped 
out  his  gun  and  shot  four  times.  Three  of  the  shots 
were  clean  hits  and  with  a  shriek  and  a  snarl  of  pain 
the  Mackenzie  hound  threw  backward,  writhed  and 
lay  still. 

With  a  cry  Barbara  groped  her  way  to  where  the 
dog  lay.  Something  new  and  terrible  was  surging 
up  within  her.  It  was  burning  her  like  a  consuming 
fire.  Lisle  would  have  understood  it,  but  Danny  the 
tenderfoot  would  have  stood  appalled  at  the  very 
thought  of  such  a  thing  in  the  girl  that  he  loved. 


THE  TANG  167 

"  Your  dog,"  Lord  Harold's  voice  was  saying, 
"  is  dead.  I  warned  you." 

There  was  no  fear  in  Barbara's  heart  as  she  heard 
the  words.  There  was  just  a  burning  white  rage  — 
a  rage  of  which  she  would  never  have  believed  her- 
self capable.  She  clenched  her  small  hands  until  the 
nails  dug  into  the  soft  flesh.  If  she  only  had  a  gun! 
If  she  could  only  see ! 

Lord  Harold  was  speaking  again.  He  had  seen 
a  small  dark  speck  on  the  southern  horizon  —  and 
it  was  growing  larger. 

"  Hurry !  "  he  said  as  he  again  took  Barbara  by 
the  arm.  "  We  must  go  at  once!  " 

Barbara  snatched  her  arm  away. 

"  Xaomi  may  go  if  she  wishes,"  she  cried,  her 
voice  half  choked  with  anger,  "  but  I  —  am  going 
to  —  stay  right  here !  " 

The  outlaw  laughed  shortly. 

"  Here  with  a  dead  dog  —  and  nothing  else !  "  he 
said.  "  That  would  be  a  death  befitting  so  plucky  a 
heroine,  but  one  which  unfortunately  I  refuse  to 
permit.  You're  far  too  pretty  to  die.  I  am  sorry 
to  be  rough,  but  you  will  have  to  hurry." 

Barbara  did  not  move.     With  one  sweep  of  his 


i68  THE  TANG 

arms  the  outlaw  caught  her  up  and  bundled  her  into 
the  rear  sled.  Here  he  strapped  her  securely  with 
an  improvised  leather  thong.  Two  minutes  later 
he  had  the  kicking,  biting  Naomi  also  imprisoned, 
and  with  a  crack  of  the  long  whip  and  a  low  cry  to 
the  dogs,  the  team  lunged  ahead  full  speed  into  the 
north. 


CHAPTER  EIGHT 

Lisle  was  the  first  of  the  two  men  to  recover  suffi- 
ciently to  do  the  things  which  had  suffered  so  much 
neglect  during  the  time  they  had  both  lain  ill.  He 
moved  slowly,  and  the  least  jar  to  the  wounded 
shoulder  caused  him  the  most  intense  pain.  Never- 
theless he  would  have  attempted  to  move  on  if  Blake 
had  been  able  even  to  ride  through  the  two  days' 
storm.  The  man  was  now  little  more  than  a  skele- 
ton and  a  racking  cough  had  taken  possession  of 
him.  The  fever  had  diminished,  but  he  was  still 
far  too  weak  to  be  moved.  There  was  no  game  to 
be  found,  and  he  could  not  eat. 

Immediately  upon  the  cessation  of  the  storm,  how- 
ever, Lisle  harnessed  the  dogs  with  his  left  hand, 
which  was  a  feat  in  itself,  and  somehow  accom- 
plished the  breaking  of  camp  and  the  loading  of 
Blake  into  the  rear  sledge.  Then  began  a  journey 
which  to  the  impatient  Lisle  seemed  like  the  crawl- 
ing of  a  snail.  He  had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  re- 
straining the  dogs  after  their  long  vacation,  and  to 

169 


170  THE  TANG 

walk  ahead  and  break  trail  was  the  only  method  by 
which  he  could  keep  them  down  to  a  pace  which  he 
could  endure.  For  each  forward  and  outward 
thrust  of  the  long  narrow  snowshoes  was  accom- 
panied with  a  sharp  twinge  of  pain  which  grew 
swiftly  into  a  steady  throbbing  ache.  His  legs  were 
unsteady  and  his  breath  came  hard.  It  was  imoos- 
sible  to  make  more  than  eight  miles  a  day. 

But  even  eight  miles  was  just  that  much  nearer 
the  place  where  he  hoped  to  find  news  of  Barbara 
and  some  medical  attention  for  Blake. 

After  the  storm  there  came  again  the  hunting  cry 
of  the  wolf  pack.  It  was  a  deeper-throated  cry  than 
before,  and  wilder.  If  they  had  been  hungry  then, 
they  were  famished  now.  Occasionally,  there  would 
be  another  cry  which  would  rise  above  the  concen- 
trated cry  of  the  pack  —  a  cry  more  blood  curdling, 
and  having  within  it  that  note  which  carries  fear  to 
the  heart  of  even  the  bravest  of  men  —  the  cry  of 
the  wolf  gone  mad. 

Danny  Blake  heard  this  cry  as  he  lay  in  the  creep- 
ing sledge  or  by  the  side  of  the  fire  at  night.  And 
ever  to  his  heart  came  the  one  thought  —  the  dread 
that  Barbara  was  hearing  it  too.  Perhaps  it  was 
nearer  to  her  than  it  was  to  him.  He  groaned  as 


THE  TANG  171 

he  thought  of  the  things  he  had  read  concerning  the 
hungry  wolf  packs  of  the  North  —  and  of  the  mad 
wolves  which  know  no  fear.  The  pack  would  only 
attack  man  as  a  last  resort,  Lisle  had  said  —  when 
there  was  no  other  food  to  be  had.  For  they  were 
afraid  of  the  flash  of  a  gun  and  the  light  of  a  camp- 
fire.  But  he  had  also  said  that  the  storm  had  taken 
an  enormous  toll  of  the  creatures  upon  which  these 
animals  prey,  and  indeed,  the  men  had  not  seen  a 
single  track  so  far. 

Only  once  the  cry  of  the  pack  had  been  less  in- 
sistant  for  awhile,  and  the  men  had  come  upon  the 
remains  of  the  carcass  of  a  moose,  only  the  bones 
and  torn  pieces  of  hide  and  scattered  blots  of  blood 
remaining  of  the  slaughter  and  the  feast.  Blake 
shut  his  eyes  and  a  shudder  ran  through  him  at  the 
sight.  Barbara  in  danger  from  those  beasts !  Bar- 
bara, the  cultured  flowed  of  civilization  —  and  this ! 

Lisle  did  not  share  Blake's  fears  for  Barbara.  He 
knew  that  he  had  supplied  her  well  at  Ft.  Wrigley 
with  fuel  and  ammunition  and  that  with  these  she 
was  safe  from  the  wolves,  and  had  no  doubt  reached 
Ft.  Churchill  by  now  and  had  stacked  up  again. 
Somehow  he  could  not  think  that  harm  in  any  form 
had  come  to  her. 


172  THE  TANG 

Nevertheless  through  the  weary,  painful  days,  he 
trudged  ahead  of  the  team  in  the  direction  which  he 
believed  her  to  be,  that  he  might  perhaps,  in  spite  of 
his  failure,  through  the  mercy  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, some  day  take  his  place  again  as  her  protec- 
tor. 

And  as  he  went  the  hunger  of  the  wolf  pack  rang 
once  more  through  their  cry  as  they  found  no  moose 
or  other  game  —  and  it  was  not  long  befpre  they 
had  .discovered  in  the  wind  a  new  scent  —  the  scent 
of  man  and  dogs  —  and  had  found  the  fresh  trail  in 
the  snow. 

As  Barbara  sat  strapped  in  the  sled  of  Lord 
Harold  her  brain  was  working  rapidly.  Where  was 
the  outlaw  taking  her?  There  was  a  subdued  note 
in  his  insistent  call  to  the  dogs  that  puzzled  her. 
Why  was  he  afraid  to  call-  loudly  as  he  had  done 
when  he  had  first  arrived  on  the  scene  and  had 
quieted  the  hubbub  of  the  dogs?  Was  it  just  his 
natural  caution  caused  by  the  thing  he  was  doing,  in 
spite  of  their  apparent  isolation  in  the  vast  snow- 
field?  Every  now  and  then  she  could  tell  by  the 
sound  of  his  voice  that  he  had  turned  his  head  as  he 
called.  In  fact  he  had  done  it  often,  and  once  there- 


THE  TANG  173 

after  he  had  cracked  the  long  caribou-gut  whip  with 
sudden  renewed  energy  and  had  urged  the  dogs  on 
to  even  further  effort  —  and  they  were  already 
straining  so  that  their  bre'athing  came  like  the  rasp- 
ing of  dull  saws.  The  sledges  lurched  from  side  to 
side  as  they  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  increased 
speed.  Slowly  the  idea  that  they  might  be  followed 
grew  upon  the  girl.  Perhaps  by  some  miracle,  the 
three  shots  which  she  had  fired,  or  Naomi's,  both 
with  the  same  vague  hope  that  they  might  be  heard 
by  ears  to  which  they  would  carry  the  message  of 
their  peril,  had  indeed  been  heard.  With  a  wild 
hope  in  her  heart  she  thought  of  a  locket  which  hung 
about  her  neck.  If  she  could  only  reach  it!  Then, 
even  if  there  was  some  one  behind  them  just  travel- 
ing a  route  of  his  own  which  might  lead  away  from 
their  trail  at  any  moment,  perhaps  the  finding  of 
the  locket,  if  she  could  only  drop  it  behind  her,  and 
the  rifled  body  of  Silver,  would  serve  somehow  to 
attract  the  curiosity  at  least,  of  the  driver  of  the 
other  team.  That  that  driver  might  be  the  coarsest 
half-breed  or  the  wiliest  Indian,  or  even  another 
and  equally  as  desperate  an  outlaw,  did  not  occur 
to  her.  And  if  it  had  it  would  hardly  have  been 
sufficient  to  dissuade  her  from  her  purpose,  if  she 


174  THE  TANG 

could  but  accomplish  it.  Almost  any  one  would  be 
better  than  Lord  Harold,  and  it  was  her  only  chance. 
But  the  outlaw  had  -taken  careful  precaution  that 
she  -should  not  be  able  to  reach  the  knots  in  the 
thongs  which  strapped  her  in,  and  he  had  wound  the 
caribou-gut  bands  tightly  around  her  wrists.  After 
working  several  minutes  she  gave  up  all  hope  of  ever 
getting  them  up  as  far  as  her  throat.  Then  suddenly 
another  idea  struck  her  and  with  a  little  gasp  of  joy 
she  reached  to  see  if  she  could  touch  the  left  pocket 
of  her  coat.  She  could  just  reach  the  top  of  it. 
With  much  maneuvering,  which  she  endeavored  to 
make  appear  like  an  effort  to  get  more  comfortable, 
she  managed  to  work  the  coat  around  her  body  fur- 
ther to  the  left.  Finally  her  hand  found  the  inside 
of  the  pocket  and  the  object  for  which  she  sought. 
With  a  prayer  on  her  lips  that  the  outlaw  might  not 
see  her  action,  she  drew  out  a  small  leather  card- 
case  and  threw  it  over  the  side  of  the  sled. 

The  thing  from  which  Lord  Harold  was  fleeing 
was  a  dog-team  and  two  men,  the  one  a  white  man 
and  the  other,  the  driver,  an  Indian.  A  florid  face 
with  small  eyes  set  too  close  together,  a  round,  gen- 
erous nose,  and  a  thick,  slightly  protruding  underlip 


THE  TANG  175 

were  the  most  distinguishing  features  framed  by  the 
white  man's  fur  hood.  He  mushed  behind  the  rear 
sledge  on  the  long  narrow  snowshoes  typical  of 
the  country  and  he  handled  them  like  a  veteran.  He 
was  peering  ahead  to  a  place  where  a  dark  speck 
had  just  disappeared. 

"  Mush  faster,  Smoke,"  he  called  to  the  Indian, 
"  they're  gaining."  Then,  as  his  eye  was  attracted 
by  something  else,  "  they've  left  something  behind. 
Hurry!" 

The  Cree  cracked  the  whip  and  the  end  of  it 
stung  the  lead-dog.  The  men  on  snowshoes  had 
difficulty  in  keeping  up.  They  were  almost  run- 
ning. 

"  If  he  wasn't  in  so  damned  much  of  a  —  hurry," 
puffed  the  white  man,  "  I  wouldn't  be  so  —  curi- 
ous." 

Suddenly  the  Indian  uttered  an  exclamation  as  he 
peered  ahead. 

"  Look  like  man  lef  behin',''  he  said  in  Cree. 
"  It  black  —  an'  big." 

They  traveled  on  a  few  hundred  yards  further, 
then  the  Indian  spoke  again,  but  with  less  concern. 

"  It  is  dog,"  he  said.     "  Bad,  mebbe." 

They  stopped  when  they  came  to  the  silver-black 


176  THE  TANG 

body  of  the  dog.  The  white  man  looked  at  him 
with  interest. 

"  Some  beast ! "  he  said,  "  I've  seen  him  some- 
where —  before." 

"  Bad !  "  said  the  Cree,  gathering  up  the  whip-end 
and  preparing  to  move  on.  "  That  why  they  shoot 
'im.  Wolf  blood.  Lot's  of  it!" 

The  white  man  drew  off  one  of  his  mittens,  knelt 
beside  the  dog,  and  wetting  the  end  of  his  finger, 
held  it  in  front  of  one  of  the  black  nostrils. 

"He's  still  alive,"  he  said.  "The  bullets  only 
punctured  his  ribs  and  shoulder.  Damn  good 
lookin'  beast.  Have  half  a  mind  to  take  'im." 

"  Bad ! "  repeated  the  Cree  again,  "  an'  better 
dead!" 

The  man  hesitated,  but  finally  deciding  that  the 
Indian  was  probably  right,  gave  the  wocd  to  move 
on. 

Suddenly  the  sledges  flew  past  a  small  dark  ob- 
ject which  lay  in  the  snow  on  the  left  side  of  the 
trail.  The  Indian  kicked  it  with  his  snowshoe  ap- 
parently without  noticing  it,  but  the  white  man 
stooped  and  picked  it  up.  It  was  a  leather  cardcase, 
and  as  the  man  turned  it  over  a  name  engraved  upon 


THE  TANG  177 

it  in  letters  of  gold  shone  from  the  rough  black  sur- 
face. The  man  stopped  as  though  suddenly  turned 
to  stone,  his  florid  face  turned  a  ghastly  white  with 
the  pallor  of  shock  or  fear  and  an  oath  sprang  to 
his  lips,  but  only  a  hiss  came  through.  The  Cree 
had  stopped  the  dogs  and  came  running  back. 

"  You  are  sick !  "  cried  the  Indian.  "  The  boss  is 
sick!" 

The  man  stared  at  him  as  though  he  had  not 
heard.  Like  one  in  a  trance  his  voice  came  thickly, 
scarcely  above  a  whisper. 

"  We've  got  to  get  that  team! "  he  said.  "  If  we 
don't  —  you  die!  " 

It  was  a  week  after  the  wolf  pack  had  found  the 
trail  of  Lisle  and  his  team,  that  the  first  of  the  silent 
grey  shadows  with  the  gleaming  eyes  came  near 
enough  to  the  firelight  to  be  plainly  seen.  During 
that  week  they  had  slunk  along  behind  the  team  in 
the  daytime  just  near  enough  to  keep  it  in  sight,  and 
at  night  they  passed  to  and  fro  beyond  the  circle  of 
the  firelight  like  dim  wraiths,  only  the  glow  of  their 
eyes  distinguishing  them  from  the  ghosts  of  wolves, 
rather  than  the  flesh  and  blood  creatures.  And  in- 


1 78  THE  TANG 

deed  it  looked  as  though  there  was  little  enough  of 
that,  judging  from  this  one  which  now  came  so 
near. 

There  was  a  reason  for  this  unusual  boldness. 
To-day  there  had  come  to  the  pack,  along  with  the 
scent  of  man  and  dogs,  the  strong  flavor  of  fresh 
blood  —  of  the  blood  of  a  fresh  kill.  For  Lisle 
had  shot  a  caribou  and  a  rabbit  and  had  thereby 
robbed  them  of  the  only  prey  which  had  passed  that 
way  since  the  second  storm. 

To  the  famished  pack  the  smell  of  the  meat  was 
madness  —  and  the  red  which  had  glowed  for  two 
days  now  in  the  eyes  of  their  leader  had  suddenly 
become  to  look  like  that  in  the  eyes  of  one  of  the 
members  of  the  pack  which  they  had  recently  eaten. 
This  member  had  gone  mad  and  had  bitten  one  of  the 
others  before  that  one  had  downed  him  —  and  they 
had  both  died  —  the  one  from  the  bite,  and  the  other 
from  the  fangs  of  the  pack  which  had  closed  in 
even  before  the  victim  had  uttered  the  death  cry. 

Danny  Blake  had  heard  that  cry  —  and  the  cries 
of  the  pack  as  it  rended  the  flesh  of  the  two  former 
members  —  and  he  made  no  pretense  to  hide  the 
fear  that  it  brought  to  him. 

"  Ugh !  "  he  shuddered,  "  it  is  terrible !     They  are 


THE  TANG  179 

terrible!  If  they'd  only  quit  following  us!  When 
I'm  awake  I  see  them  —  and  when  I'm  asleep  I 
dream  of  them! " 

Lisle  smiled  rather  sadly.  The  cries  of  the  wolf 
pack  did  not  strike  terror  to  his  heart.  Somehow 
they  were  just  another,  if  slightly  more  gruesome, 
part  of  it  all.  It  even  occurred  to  him  that  the 
country  would  not  be  just  that  country  without 
them  —  that  it  needed  that  cry  —  if  not  the  death 
cry,  at  least  the  hunting  cry  of  the  pack  —  to  com- 
plete it.  He  knew  the  futility  of  attempting  to  ex- 
plain this  attitude  to  Blake.  For  in  spite  of  his  own 
lack  of  fear,  he  could  appreciate  and  sympathize 
with  the  feelings  of  this  man  who,  in  spite  of  his 
splendid  courage,  was  still  a  tenderfoot  — would  al- 
ways be  a  tenderfoot. 

"  They  aren't  exactly  agreeable  companions," 
Lisle  said.  "  I  wish  I  might  leave  them  the  buck  to 
stall  them  off  awhile  until  they  strike  the  trail  of 
other  game,  as  I'm  afraid  we're  going  to  disappoint 
them.  But  we  need  the  buck  to  put  life  into  you  — 
and  I've  only  five  shots  left." 

"  Other  game !  "  repeated  Blake,  "  or  another 
trail!  Heaven  forbid  it  should  be  hers!  Let  'em 
follow.  So  long  as  they  stay  outside  that  fire  I'll 


i8o  THE  TANG 

try  to  forget  them.  Have  you  any  idea  how  far 
we  are  from  Churchill  ?  " 

"  No,"  replied  Lisle,  "  I'm  afraid  I  haven't.  We 
can't  have  kept  a  straight  course  because  of  the  two 
storms  having  so  completely  obliterated  any  land- 
marks, and  we've  had  some  cloudy  days.  If  we 
were  among  the  mountains  I  might  be  able  to  tell. 
But  you  needn't  worry  about  the  wolves.  They'll 
never  dare  come  beyond  the  fire." 

"  And  in  the  daytime?  "  asked  Blake. 

"  I've  a  block  that  will  serve  for  a  club  —  if  they 
venture  too  near,  and  one  killed  means  a  feast  for 
at  least  some  of  them,  and  less  danger  for  us." 

The  assurance  in  Lisle's  voice  once  more  quieted 
Blake's  fears,  and  he  would  have  slept  that  night, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  boldness  of  the  red-eyed 
leader  of  the  pack. 

"  I  don't  like  the  appearance  of  our  scrawny- 
ribbed  friend-enemy,"  said  Lisle,  attempting  to 
throw  a  jocular  light  on  the  situation  which  held  so 
much  discomfort  for  the  tenderfoot.  "  Think  we'll 
bunk  outside  to-night.  He  might  get  curious  on  the 
farther  side  of  the  tent  —  and  we  aren't  driven  to 
build  our  fire  around  us  —  yet." 

The  animals  had  ceased  circling  about  just  out- 


THE  TANG  181 

side  the  circle  of  light  as  though  searching  for  some 
avenue  of  attack  that  was  not  lit  by  the  little  flames 
of  which  they  were  so  much  in  fear.  They  had 
seated  themselves  and  were  watching  Lisle  as  he  pre- 
pared the  blankets.  The  dogs  were  plainly  disturbed 
by  the  nearness  of  the  leader.  They  huddled  up 
close  to  the  fire,  and  together,  and  occasionally  low 
grumbling  snarls  would  come  from  among  them  as 
the  red-eyed  watcher  moved  or  changed  his  place. 
Presently  the  pack  grew  closer  behind  their  leader. 
The  fact  that  nothing  happened  to  him,  and  that  the 
strong  smell  of  the  fresh  kill  was  in  their  nostrils 
drew  them  on. 

"  Good  God !  "  exclaimed  Blake.  "  Do  I  have  to 
try  to  sleep  with  that  bunch  of  wild-eyed  ghosts  star- 
ing at  me?  I'm  for  the  tent.  At  least  they  can't 
see  us  there!  " 

"  All  right,"  said  Lisle,  "  you  sleep  in  the  tent 
and  I'll  stay  here.  I'd  rather  bunk  out,  anyway  — 
and  I've  slept  with  them  looking  at  me  before. 
They  won't  bother  you  while  they  can  see  me." 

Blake  went  inside  and  Lisle  curled  up  on  his 
blankets.  The  dogs  were  so  restless  they  would  not 
permit  him  to  sleep.  Along  towards  -midnight  the 
red-eyed  leader  of  the  pack  advanced  two  more  feet 


1 82  THE  TANG 

nearer  the  fire.  As  he  did  so,  two  of  the  dogs 
started  up,  and  the  others  immediately  followed. 
With  their  eyes  on  the  pack  they  backed  up,  whin- 
ing and  shoveling  the  snow  behind  them.  Lisle 
jumped  to  his  feet  as  they  pushed  the  snow  across 
the  fire  and  put  it  out. 

It  was  all  that  the  wolf  pack  needed.  The  flames 
which  they  feared  were  gone,  and  before  them,  cow- 
ering and  afraid,  were  nine  dogs  with  the  sweet  flesh 
upon  them  and  the  life's  blood  flowing  through  their 
veins  which  the  pack  craved.  With  a  rush  and  a 
shrieking  from  wild  throats,  terrified  howls  from 
the  huskies,  a  crashing  and  snapping  of  fangs,  and 
the  tearing  and  rending  of  flesh  and  bone,  the  fight 
was  on.  And  above  all  the  other  sounds  rose  the 
terrible  "  mad  "  cry  of  the  red-eyed  leader. 

Lisle  sprang  for  the  red-hot  brands  which  re- 
mained of  his  fire  and  hurled  them  into  the  midst 
of  the  turmoil.  But  the  animals  were  far  beyond 
the  fear  of  the  fire  now.  There  were  but  seven  of 
the  wolves,  but  they  were  savage  and  famished,  and 
the  well-fed  dogs,  though  a  match  for  them  physi- 
cally, had  not  that  fierce  power  born  of  long  starva- 
tion. Those  of  the  dogs  that  did  not  fall  victim  to 
the  fangs  of  the  pack  died  from  the  bite  of  the  mad 


THE  TANG  183 

leader,  or  ran  shrieking  off  into  the  night.  And 
when  Lisle's  fire-brands  were  gone,  it  was  a  sorry 
sight  which  met  his  eyes. 

Only  two  of  the  wolves  had  been  killed  in  the 
fight  —  and  one  of  these  was  the  mad  leader.  The 
others  fell  upon  the  torn  bodies  of  the  dogs  and  the 
two  of  their  own  kind,  and  there  was  a  crunching  of 
flesh  and  bone  and  a  loud  clicking  of  savage  fangs 
which  turned  Lisle  sick,  veteran  though  he  was. 
And  as  he  turned  to  get  more  fuel  with  which  to 
rebuild  the  fire,  he  saw  Danny  Blake,  ashen- faced 
and  trembling,  leaning  against  the  tent  pole. 

Lisle  rebuilt  the  fire  quickly.  Neither  man  spoke. 
There  was  not  much  to  be  said.  The  real  calamity 
of  what  had  befallen  them  in  those  few  terrible  mo- 
ments, was  only  too  apparent.  Their  dogs  were 
gone.  They  did  not  know  how  far  they  were  from 
Ft.  Churchill,  and  they  had  already  traveled  over 
three  hundred  miles  without  having  met  another 
team. 

Blake  was  the  first  to  break  the  silence  after  they 
had  sat  some  time  before  the  newly  built  fire,  Blake 
with  his  back  turned  to  the  spectacle  of  the  gorging 
wolves  and  trying  vainly  not  to  hear  them.  About 
them  rose  the  sickening  smell  of  fresh  blood,  and 


1 84  THE  TANG 

the  tenderfoot  drew  in  closer  to  the  smoke  of  the 
fire. 

"  Lisle,"  he  said  slowly,  and  there  was  a  strange 
break  in  his  voice,  "  if  there's  anything  I  can  do  — 
any  sacrifice  I  can  make  —  that  would  help  —  I'm 
going  to  do  it.  If  it  hadn't  been  for  me  — " 

Lisle  looked  up  quickly  as  he  caught  the  other's 
meaning.  There  was  no  mistaking  the  sincerity  in 
the  dark-circled  eyes.  With  a  sudden  surge  of  feel- 
ing the  young  officer  turned  his  eyes  away  that  Blake 
might  not  see  their  mistiness. 

There  was  no  doubt  in  Lisle's  mind  but  that  Blake 
meant  what  he  said  —  that  he  would  nmke  an'y  sac- 
rifice. This  tenderfoot  who  cried  out  against  the 
loneliness  of  the  great  grey  spaces  —  who  paled  at 
the  sight  of  blood  and  cringed  before  the  eyes  of  the 
wolves,  would  sacrifice  his  life  in  a  manner  from 
which  even  a  strong  man  would  shudder  and  draw 
back  —  and  he  would  die  as  gamely  as  ever  a  strong 
man  died!  Something  rose  in  Lisle's  throat  and 
choked  him,  as  he  wondered  at  the  strength  of  some 
men  called  weak ! 

"  We're  not  beaten  —  yet !  "  was  all  he  said. 

Blake  shook  his  head  sadly. 

"  I  know,"  he  said,  "  I've  been  thinking  about  it 


THE  TANG  185 

You'll  insist  that  we  go  on  together.  You  know  I 
can  hardly  walk,  let  alone  pull  a  sledge.  So  you'll 
take  two  —  and  as  much  as  they'll  carry.  And 
you'll  load  the  one  with  caribou  meat  —  for  me.  If 
you'd  go  alone  you  could  pack  all  you  need  on  one 
sled  —  and  you'd  make  double  time." 

"  You're  game !  "  said  Lisle,  looking  across  the 
firelight,  "  dead  game  —  gamer  than  I  ever  believed 
a  real  dyed-in-the-wool  tenderfoot  could  be!  And 
perhaps  it's  for  that  reason  as  well  as  any  other  that 
what  you  suggest  would  be  the  last  thing  I'd  do.  I 
admit  it's  going  to  be  some  pull  —  and  you'll  have  to 
mush  —  and  you're  not  fit  to  stand.  But  we'll  pull 
—  together! " 

Blake  sighed  wearily. 

"  I  knew  you  wouldn't  do  it,"  he  said,  "  so  I  sup- 
pose that  settles  it.  You're  boss  of  this  outfit.  But 
the  time  may  come  when  you'll  have  to  —  and  I 
may  be  conscious  —  and  I  may  not.  But  if  I'm  not, 
I  want  you  to  remember  what  I've  said.  She  needs 
you  —  and  she  doesn't  need  me.  But  there's  one 
thing  on  which  I  refuse  to  give  in.  We  won't  take 
the  caribou." 

Lisle  considered  a  moment. 

"  We'll  take  some  of  it,"  he  said  finally.     "  The 


1 86  THE  TANG 

fish  sack  will  not  be  needed  now  that  the  dogs  are 
gone,  and  we'll  have  to  leave  the  tent.  It  isn't  much 
use  any  longer  with  those  fellows  around,  anyway. 
We'll  just  have  to  pray  for  good  weather,  and  that 
we're  nearer  the  Fort  than  I  dare  to  hope.  We  must 
take  all  our  fuel.  That  is  about  the  most  important 
thing,  aside  from  the  provisions." 

In  the  following  dawn  the  men  resumed  their 
travel.  Lisle  pulled  the  two  sleds  packed  with  fuel 
and  provisions.  It  was  a  hard  pull,  even  though  the 
runners  slipped  smoothly  over  the  hard  crust  —  for 
his  wound  was  by  no  means  healed.  But  even  then, 
Blake  was  always  a  little  behind  him.  The  snow- 
shoes  seemed  to  the  tenderfoot  to  weigh  at  least  a 
hundred  pounds  each. 

The  five  remaining  members  of  the  wolf  pack  fol- 
lowed closely  in  the  rear  now,  making  no  pretense 
at  hiding  in  the  daytime.  Their  one  victory  had 
served  to  make  them  bolder,  and  they  had  not  yet 
been  warned  away  by  the  sharp  spit  of  fire  from  a 
gun.  They  seemed  to  sense  that  these  men  were 
fighting  a  losing  fight. 

On  the  third  day  of  their  new  mode  of  travel 
Blake  stumbled  and  fell  twice,  and  Lisle  was  obliged 
to  help  him  rise  again.  But  the  tenderfoot  smiled 


THE  TANG  187 

through  blanched  lips  and  refused  to  stop.  They 
made  hardly  the  eight  miles  a  day  now. 

That  night  Blake  lay  on  his  blankets  before  the 
fire  utterly  exhausted.  Beyond  him  the  five  wolves 
sat,  very  close  to  the  fire  circle  now.  The  feast  of 
the  huskies  had  long  ago  ceased  to  appease  their 
hunger,  and  there  was  again  that  intense  watchful 
glare  of  anticipation  in  their  eyes.  Whenever  Lisle 
leaned  over  with  his  back  to  them  they  would  get 
up  and  come  a  little  nearer,  and  when  he  would 
straighten  up  suddenly  and  turn  toward  them,  they 
would  spring  back  and  settle  down  again. 

"  Guess  I'll  sleep  with  one  eye  open,"  said  Lisle 
to  himself. 

It  was  along  about  midnight  that  something  made 
Lisle  sit  up  suddenly  and  peer  blinkingly  into  the 
darkness.  As  he  did  so  a  grey  form  sprang  back 
from  within  three  feet  of  him,  and  a  faint  clicking 
of  fangs  came  to  his  ears. 

"  You  grey  devil !  "  he  exclaimed.  "  It  wouldn't 
take  much,  now  would  it !  " 

He  noticed  then  that  the  fire  was  very  low.  He 
went  for  more  fuel,  and  as  he  stooped  to  load  his 
arm  something  came  slinking  slowly  up  behind  him. 
He  straightened,  and  the  thing  jumped  back,  but 


1 88  THE  TANG 

two  eyes  still  gleamed  at  him  out  of  the  darkness  not 
more  than  a  yard  away. 

For  the  first  time  a  shiver  ran  along  Lisle' s  spine. 
They  were  getting  bold. 

"  Guess  I'll  move  the  fuel  nearer  the  fire,"  he 
thought,  shoving  the  bag  along  before  him  with  his 
foot.  "  Won't  dare  go  out  of  the  fire  circle  at 
night  if  this  keeps  up." 

He  rebuilt  the  blaze  and  settled  himself  again. 
As  he  did  so  the  grey  forms  crept  up  and  took  their 
positions  just  outside  the  circle.  Lisle  could  plainly 
hear  the  clicking  of  their  fangs,  as  though  they 
sensed  that  the  moving  of  the  gunny  sack  of  fuel  had 
been  one  more  sign  of  his  weakening. 

He  closed  his  eyes,  intending  to  keep  awake. 
But  even  the  close  proximity  of  the  staring  beasts 
could  not  keep  away  the  sleep  of  which  his  tired  body 
was  so  much  in  need. 

It  was  just  as  he  began  to  doze  off  that  Danny 
Blake,  turning  fitfully  in  his  exhausted,  troubled 
slumber,  rolled  out  of  the  circle  of  the  firelight. 

On  the  instant  the  wolf  pack  rose  and  stretched 
eagerly  forward,  while  their  new  leader  crouched 
for  a  spring.  And  it  was  the  hand  of  God  indeed 
that  awakened  Lisle  just  in  time  to  catch  the  spring- 


THE  TANG  189 

ing  body  in  midair  with  a  burning  firebrand.  The 
brand  caught  the  wolf  on  the  head  and  sent  him 
hurling  to  one  side  with  a  howl  of  pain.  Lisle 
flung  another  into  the  pack. 

"  We'll  have  to  sleep  in  relays  after  this,"  Lisle 
said.  "We've  just  five  shots  —  and  we  can't  use 
them  —  yet." 

Accordingly,  the  next  night  the  one  man  watched 
while  the  other  slept,  and  often  it  was  necessary  to 
cower  the  wolves  with  the  firebrands. 

The  next  day  Blake  mushed  with  teeth  set  and  his 
thin  hands  clenched  to  keep  up  the  fight  which  was 
steadily  becoming  too  much  for  him.  He  stumbled 
more  often  and  as  often  as  five  times  he  fell.  He 
kept  on  until  the  white  world  suddenly  became  black 
to  him  and  he  slumped  forward  and  lay  still.  So 
silently  had  he  fallen  that  Lisle  had  gone  several 
yards  farther  before  he  missed  him. 

Lisle  made  camp  on  the  site.  And  that  night  the 
wolves,  with  that  strange  uncanny  sense  that  a  new 
point  had  been  won  in  their  favor,  drew  so  close 
that  Lisle  was  obliged  to  waste  five  of  the  now 
precious  firebrands  to  keep  them  back. 

The  next  morning  Blake  made  a  valiant  attempt 
to  move  on.  He  put  on  his  snowshoes  in  spite  of 


190  THE  TANG 

Lisle' s  insistence  that  they  rest  for  at  least  half  a 
day.  And  indeed  they  were  obliged  to  take  this 
half  day's  rest,  but  on  the  other  end  —  the  after- 
noon. 

"  There's  only  one  thing  to  do,"  Lisle  said. 
"  That's  dump  some  of  the  canned  stuff  and  pack 
you  onto  the  sled." 

"  And  you  pull  me,  when  you  can  hardly  pull  them 
as  they  are  now !  "  said  Blake.  "  No,  there's  some- 
thing else.  You  take  half  of  the  provisions  and  fuel 
and  leave  me  the  other  half  —  and  I'll  stay  here  until 
I'm  fit  to  move  on.  Then  I'll  follow  in  your  tracks." 

Lisle  shook  his  head. 

"  It  might  storm/'  he  replied,  "  and  the  tracks 
would  be  obliterated.  You'd  never  be  able  to  find 
your  way  alone.  Besides,  there  isn't  enough  fuel 
to  divide.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  it's  nearly  gone  — 
and  what's  worse  we'll  have  to  build  our  fire  around 
us  —  very  soon.  And  you  can  imagine  how  much 
fuel  that  will  require." 

"  Someone  is  bound  to  pass  by  sooner  or  later," 
insisted  Blake.  "  I  could  go  with  them  —  or  they 
could  direct  me  in  case  of  the  storm  of  which  you 
speak." 

"  That's  far  too  long  a  chance  to  take,"  replied 


THE  TANG  191 

Lisle.  "  You  might  be  here  for  months  without 
sighting  anyone.  Besides,  there  are  those,"  waving 
his  hand  in  the  direction  of  the  wolf-pack. 

"  We'll  wait  together,"  he  continued.  "  You'll 
be  able  to  start  along  again  in  a  day  at  the  most. 
We  may  strike  a  cabin  somewhere,  although  they're 
scarce  in  the  open  places.  I  wish  I  knew  how  far 
we  are  from  some  wood  patches.  There  ought  to 
be  some  soon,  if  we're  anywhere  near  Churchill." 

As  he  spoke  a  sound  came  to  the  ears  of  both 
men.  It  was  far  away  —  but  there  was  no  mistak- 
ing it.  It  was  the  muffled  report  of  three  pistol 
shots ! 

With  a  cry  Lisle  sprang  up  and  peered  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  north,  from  whence  they  had  seemed 
to  come.  With  every  muscle  sjtrained  the  two  men 
waited  for  the  shots  to  be  repeated  —  but  no  sound 
came. 

"Her  signal!"  cried  Blake.  "You  must  go  — 
at  once ! " 

"  It  may  be  someone  else  —  a  trapper  shooting 
game,  perhaps.  If  it  is  hers  it  will  surely  come 
again !  Listen !  " 

For  five  minutes  the  two  men  did  nqt  move. 
Then  Lisle  turned. 


192  THE  TANG 

"  I'll  investigate,"  he  said,  "  but  I'm  sure  there 
would  have  befen  a  repetition  of  the  shots  if  it  were 
her  signal.  She  and  Naomi  both  know  it  and  — 
Good  God!" 

The  shots  had  come  again. 

Lisle  sprang  for  his  snowshoes.  Blake  took  his 
gun  from  his  holster  and  held  it  out. 

"  You  may  need  this !  "  he  said. 

Lisle  groaned.  "  And  so  may  you ! "  he  said. 
"  Heaven  help  me,  I  don't  know  what  to  do.  I  may 
not  come  back  —  and  you'll  need  tho~se  shots !  " 

"  You'll  come  back,"  said  Blake  with  an  assurance 
he  did  not  feel,  "  and  if  you  don't,  I'll  get  along 
somehow.  Besides,  there's  no  question  about  what 
you  should  do.  Remember  —  it's  for  her!" 

Lisle  made  no  effort  to  conceal  the  emotion  in  his 
voice  as  he  gripped  the  hand  of  the  tenderfoot. 

"  Blake,"  he  said,  "  you're  the  gamest  man  I  ever 
knew!  And  if  it  takes  the  last  breath  from  my 
body  I'll  come  back !  And  be  sure  to  build  your  fire 
around  you  to-night! " 

And  so  Lisle  went  forward  once  more  along  the 
trail  which  led  to  Barbara.  There  was  no  doubt 
but  what  it  was  hers  when  he  had  come  upon  the 
bleeding  body  of  Silver.  With  a  heart  gripped  with 


THE  TANG  193 

fear  he  saw  the  tracks  of  the  three  teams  in  the 
snow  —  hers,  and  the  outlaw's,  and  the  white  man's, 
with  the  Indian  driver.  He  saw  that  two  teams 
had  gone  as  one  from  the  place  where  Silver  lay  — 
and  he  prayed  that  the  one  which  followed  in  its 
tracks  might  be  that  of  a  friend. 

Behind  him  Danny  Blake,  the  tenderfoot,  sat 
alone  in  the  midst  of  the  great  snowfield.  As  the 
night  came  on  he  built  his  fire  around  him.  And 
the  wolf  pack  sat  just  outside  the  circle  of  the  light, 
a  new,  eager  hope  in  their  eyes. 


CHAPTER  NINE 

On  into  the  night  Lord  Harold  urged  the  dogs 
ahead  at  top  speed.  He  rode  standing  on  the  rung 
of  Barbara's  sled  and  the  girl  was  obliged  to  lean 
forward  against  the  thongs  which  bound  her  in 
order  that  her  head  might  not  lean  against  him. 
His  commands  to  the  huskies  were  given  in  sharp 
but  subdued  tones,  and  many  times  he  would  turn 
and  peer  back  through  the  darkness  and  immediately 
crack  the  long  whip  across  the  back  of  the  lead 
dog.  For  the  team  which  followed  them  was  lighter 
—  and  it  was  gaining.  Twice  the  outlaw  cursed  the 
Indian  woman  beneath  his  breath.  If  he  could  but 
leave  her.  But  she  could  talk ! 

Barbara  was  now  sure  that  they  were  being  fol- 
lowed. She  hardly  dared  hope  that  their  pursuer 
might  be  Lisle,  even  though  it  seemed  almost  that 
whoever  'it  wars  had  come  in  answer  to  the  three 
shots. 

It  was  about  midnight  that  Lord  Harold  stopped 
194 


THE  TANG  195 

suddenly,  and  in  great  haste  thrust  a  gag  of  a  piece 
of  gunny  sack  into  the  mouth  of  the  Indian  woman 
and  unfastened  the  thongs  which  bound  her.  Bar- 
bara could  hear  the  struggle  as  the  woman  became 
aware  of  what  the  outlaw  was  about  to  do,  but  the 
girl  could  not  determine  the  cause  of  the  commo- 
tion. A  dull  thud  came  to  her  ears  as  some  heavy 
object  dropped  on  to  the  snow,  and  there  was  some- 
thing about  the  silence  which  followed  the  sound 
that  sent  a  chill  of  apprehension  through  the  girl. 
As  they  moved  on  again  her  fears  were  verified, 
for  she  could  feel  that  the  load  was  considerably 
lighter. 

"You  have  left  Naomi!" 

"  I  have,"  replied  the  outlaw  laconically. 

"Some  one  is  —  following  us?" 

"  They  are.  Someone  has  been  following  me  for 
three  years.  It  will  be  fully  that  many  more  before 
they  catch  up  with  me." 

''  Your  confidence  appears  to  me  to  exceed  your 
caution,"  said  Barbara.  "  Naomi  cannot  see  —  but 
she  can  talk !  " 

The  outlaw  laughed  shortly. 

"  To-morrow,  perhaps,"  he  said,  "  but  not  to-day. 
And  in  the  meantime  I  have  shifted  about  one  hun- 


196  THE  TANG 

dred  and  thirty  pounds  from  my  team  to  my  pur- 
suer's." 

Barbara  shuddered.  The  man  was  certainly  con- 
fident. 

In  a  few  moments  the  outlaw  laughed  again. 

"They  pause  for  their  bundle  of  weight!"  he 
chuckled.  "  On !  you  lagging  devils  —  I  beg  your 
pardon.  One  gets  so  unused  to  the  presence  of 
ladies  in  this  country !  " 

"  And  of  gentlemen!  " 

"  Bravo !  Still  spitting,  I  see.  The  hot-houses 
certainly  do  produce  some  surprising  varieties.  I 
compliment  you !  Many  a  hardy  snow-blossom 
would  have  drooped  in  body  and  spirit  long  before 
now! " 

Barbara  ignored  the  appraisal. 

"Where  are  you  taking  me?"  she  demanded. 

"  To  Hope  Castle,"  replied  the  outlaw. 

"  Hope  Castle,  indeed !     And  then  ?  " 

"  A  priest  —  one  Corriveau  —  as  worthy  a  sire  as 
ever  forsook  his  chaplet  for  a  gun.  The  real  article, 
ordained,  and  qualified  to  perform  the  ceremony. 
He  may  not  look  it,  but  he  is.  I  give  you  my 
word." 


THE  TANG  197 

"  Your  word !  "  scoffed  the  girl,  "  a  priest !  —  and 
a  ceremony !  Indeed,  you  are  very  funny !  " 

"  It  does  seem  rather  strange,  doesn't  it  —  hav- 
ing one  all  ready?  He's  been  there  for  about  eight 
years,  though,  quite  possibly  having  been  preserved 
for  me  by  Providence  for  this  very  occasion.  He's 
pretty  old.  Considering  what  my  friend  the  squaw 
has  no  doubt  told  you,  it  seems  to  me  you  should 
be  quite  relieved  to  know  of  the  priest.  You  see 
you  are  of  my  own  kind  —  a  gentlewoman  —  I 
was  born  to  respect  them.  And  added  to  that  is 
your  superb  courage  —  and  in  this  country  one 
learns  to  respect  that  almost  more  than  anything 
else." 

"  Indeed !  "  cried  the  girl  angrily,  "  you  are  most 
flattering !  I  regret  that  such  worthy  motives  should 
be  so  doomed  to  disapointment !  " 

As  she.  spoke  the  outlaw  uttered  an  exclamation 
and  slashed  the  long  whip  forward,  leaning  so  far 
that  the  girl's  head  was  hard  pressed  against  his 
shoulder.  But  he  seemed  not  to  notice  it.  Coming 
steadily  on  through  the  darkness,  their  pursuers 
were  gaining  on  them  again. 

For  thirty  minutes  longer  the  dogs  strained  every 


198  THE  TANG 

nerve  and  muscle  in  response  to  the  repeated  lash- 
ing of  the  whip.  The  man's  breath  came  hard  and 
Barbara  could  feel  her  heart  beating  wildly  with 
the  excitement  of  the  chase.  And  then  suddenly 
one  of  the  dogs  went  down.  The  others  were 
checked  and  whirled  about.  The  sleds  plunged  for- 
ward into  the  confusion  and  came  to  a  stop  with  a 
sickening  jerk. 

With  an  oath  Lord  Harold  sprang  forward  and 
straightened  the  sleds,  cutting  the  fallen  dog  from 
the  traces.  With  a  savage  kick  he  sent  the  ex- 
hausted animal  hurtling  into  the  snow,  and  crashed 
the  whip  across  the  others  as  he  sprang  back  into 
his  place.  Barbara  had  difficulty  in  evading  his  el- 
bow as  the  whip  lashed  in  frenzied  swiftness. 

Scarcely  ten  minutes  and  Barbara  became  dis- 
tinctly aware  of  sounds  from  behind  them.  Be- 
tween the  cracks  from  the  outlaw's  whip  came  the 
faint  crash  of  another  —  and  the  muffled  cry  of  a 
driver.  The  outlaw  whipped  out  his  gun  and  fired. 
There  was  no  answering  shot.  As  she  crouched 
low  behind  the  back  of  the  sledge  the  girl's  heart 
almost  ceased  beating.  She  strained  her  ears  for 
the  sound  of  the  other  whiplash,  and  it  was  with  a 
little  sob  of  relief  that  she  heard  it.  They  were 


THE  TANG  199 

still  coming  on!  They  were  still  gaining!  They 
had  not  replied  to  the  shot  because  they  knew  of 
her!  Perhaps  after  all  Naomi  had  not  been  un- 
conscious —  or  perhaps  it  was  indeed  Lisle  who  fol- 
lowed them! 

Lord  Harold  fired  again.  For  five  minutes  at 
least  there  was  no  sound  from  behind  them.  Then, 
just  as  a  wave  of  fear  again  swept  over  Barbara, 
she  heard  the  muffled  whiplash. 

The  outlaw  was  now  bending  forward  so  far 
that  almost  half  of  his  weight  was  against  the  girl's 
head.  Her  neck  ached  cruelly  from  the  continued 
effort  of  straining  against  the  thongs.  With  every 
muscle  tense  and  hardened  she  drew  as  low  as  she 
could,  raising  her  tightly  bound  feet  against  the 
dash  of  the  sled.  And  as  the  outlaw's  body  fol- 
lowed the  lessening  of  the  resistance  of  her  head, 
she  gathered  every  atom  of  her  strength  and  sud- 
denly lurched  up  against  him.  Her  head  caught 
him  directly  in  the  stomach,  and  with  the  unex- 
pectedness of  the  impact  he  lost  his  foothold  and 
was  hurled  backwards  into  the  snow. 

For  two  hundred  yards  the  dogs  ran  ahead,  and 
then,  missing  the  sting  of  the  cruel  lash,  they  slack- 
ened their  pace.  Barbara  called  to  them,  wildly 


200  THE  TANG 

urging  them  on  —  but  the  drive  of  the  whip  and  a 
man's  voice  were  the  only  masters  they  knew.  The 
lead  dog  faltered  and  dropped.  As  the  others  fol- 
lowed suit  the  sledges  swung  out  and  stopped  with 
a  jerk.  Barbara  heard  the  sound  of  shots  again 
and  the  crunch  of  the  outlaw's  feet  on  the  hard 
crust  as  he  ran  towards  the  sleds.  There  was  an- 
other shot  —  this  time  from  their  pursuer  —  and 
the  hot  bullet  hissed  into  the  snow  beside  Barbara's 
sled.  The  outlaw  replied  to  the  shot  with  a  volley 
of  four.  Then,  just  as  he  was  two  yards  from  the 
rear  sled  there  came  another  from  the  rear.  The 
outlaw  stopped  dead  still,  standing  for  a  long  in- 
stant with  his  hands  half  raised  and  his  head  thrust 
forward.  Then  without  making  any  sound,  he 
fell. 

As  Lord  Harold  dropped  on  to  the  snow  the  pur- 
suing team  dashed  up  alongside  and  stopped.  Bar- 
bara could  hear  the  heavy  breathing  of  the  dogs 
and  the  crunch  of  snowshoes  as  someone  came  to- 
wards her.  She  wanted  to  cry  out  —  to  ask  who 
her  deliverer  was  —  but  her  voice  seemed  to  have 
left  her.  The  man  spoke  first  —  and  when  she 


THE  TANG  201 

heard  his  deep  guttural  tone  a  great  wave  of  disap- 
pointment passed  over  her.  It  was  not  Lisle. 

"  Who's  there?  "  asked  the  man. 

For  a  moment  the  girl  did  not  reply.  Instinc- 
tively she  wished  she  could  disguise  her  voice  that 
he  might  mistake  her  for  a  man. 

"  A  traveler,"  she  said  finally,  knowing  that  the 
ruse  would  be  useless. 

"A  woman!"  exclaimed  the  voice  as  the  new- 
comer came  up  to  the  side  of  the  sled. 

"  I  am  Gaston  Cordez  —  a  trapper.  I  was  run- 
ning on  my  trap-line  with  my  Indian.  It  leads  in 
this  direction.  When  we  come  to  the  squaw,  gagged 
an'  unconscious,  I  suspects  all  ain't  as  it  should  be 
—  an'  so  I  follows.  Who  fired  the  shots  ?  " 

Barbara  felt  that  the  man  was  lying.  She  was 
certain  that  he  had  been  pursuing  them  before  he 
had  found  Naomi.  Also  he  spoke  without  the 
slightest  suggestion  of  the  accent  which  would  be 
expected  to  accompany  his  name,  and  there  was 
something  decidedly  unpleasant  about  his  speech  and 
manner.  Nevertheless,  she  thought  it  could  do  no 
harm  to  tell  him  who  the  outlaw  was. 

"  It  is  Lord  Harold,  a  notorious  outlaw,"  she  re- 


202  THE  TANG 

plied.  "  Naomi  and  I  had  an  accident  with  our 
dogs  and  this  man  happened  along  and  mended  our 
harness,  and  then  proceeded  to  run  away  with  us. 
Is  Naomi  all  right?" 

"  Lord  Harold !  "  exclaimed  the  man,  springing 
to  where  the  outlaw  lay.  He  turned  him  over, 
opened  his  coat,  fumbled  in  an  inside  pocket  for  a 
match,  and  struck  it  on  the  box. 

"  By  God ! "  he  exclaimed  as  he  peered  into  the 
face  of  the  unconscious  man,  "  what  luck !  " 

"  You  might  bind  him  up  with  these  thongs  he 
so  carefully  prepared  for  me,"  suggested  Barbara. 

The  man  came  forward  and  cut  the  thongs. 
Once  free  the  girl  endeavered  to  rise  and  then  sank 
back  with  a  groan.  Her  muscles  ached  cruelly  and 
her  head  felt  dizzy. 

"  Where  is  Naomi  ?  "  she  asked  again.  The  ten- 
sion upon  which  she  had  been  keeping  up  was  now 
rapidly  slipping  away  from  her. 

"  She's  with  Smoke,  my  Indian,"  replied  Cordez, 
"they'll  be  here  pretty  quick.  I  divided  the  team 
so's  to  catch  you." 

As  he  spoke  there  came  a  sound  from  the  rear. 

"  Smoke's  comin',"  he  said.  "  Don't  you  want 
to  exercise  some?  " 


THE  TANG  203 

There  was  no  answer.  The  man  went  over  to 
where  the  girl  lay  in  the  sled,  limp  and  exhausted, 
her  head  dropped  forward. 

"  All  in,"  he  said  as  he  lifted  her  out  and  placed 
her  on  the  snow,  her  head  resting  against  his  knee. 

As  the  team  with  the  Indian  drew  up  he  gave  a 
few  short  orders  in  Cree,  and  before  long  the  In- 
dian had  a  fire  built  and  was  brewing  tea.  Barbara 
lay  on  a  blanket  beside  the  fire  in  a  deep  sleep,  and 
near  her,  still  unconscious,  lay  Naomi. 

Fifteen  miles  to  the  rear  of  them,  a  lone  man 
trudged  forward  on  snowshoes.  His  breath  came 
in  sharp  gasps  and  now  and  then  he  would  catch 
at  his  shoulder  and  bend  almost  double  with 
pain. 

"  God  give  me  strength !  "  he  muttered  through 
blanched  lips,  "  God  give  me  strength  —  strength!  " 

Morning  found  Barbara  rested  and  Naomi  re- 
stored to  consciousness.  The  blindness  of  the  two 
women  was  of  course  apparent  at  once  by  the  day- 
light. 

''  You've  got  to  have  'em  bound  up,"  said 
Cordez,  "  an'  we  got  to  find  some  place  where  you 
can  stay  out  o'  the  sun.  There's  a  cabin  some- 


204  THE  TANG 

wheres  off  there  to  the  east.  Smoke," —  and  the 
rest  was  addressed  to  the  Indian,  in  Cree. 

Smoke  replied  after  a  moment's  pause,  and  they 
began  breaking  camp. 

Barbara  and  Naomi  occupied  the  two  center 
sleds  and  Lord  Harold  was  strapped  in  the  rear  one. 
Cordez  mushed  behind  while  Smoke  broke  trail. 

At  noon  they  stopped  in  a  clearing  and  it  was 
here  that  Lord  Harold  regained  consciousness  for 
the  first  time.  When  his  eyes  rested  on  Cordez  he 
started  violently  and  would  have  cried  out,  but 
Cordez  sprang  forward  and  thrust  his  hand  over 
the  outlaw's  mouth,  and  ordered  the  Indian  to  gag 
him.  The  afternoon  mush  was  made  in  silence  as 
had  been  the  one  of  the  morning.  At  dusk  they 
sighted  a  small  isolated  clump  of  firs  and  Smoke 
called  something  back  to  Cordez,  who  lashed  the 
dogs. 

Presently  they  came  to  a  cabin,  entirely  concealed 
by  the  trees,  which  apparently  had  long  been  aban- 
doned. It  required  twenty  minutes  to  clear  away 
the  drifts  of  hard  packed  snow  from  in  front  of  the 
door. 

In  half  an  hour  the  two  rooms  were  made  com- 
fortable and  reasonably  clean.  Cordez  insisted  that 


THE  TANG  205 

Barbara  and  Naomi  stay  in  the  one  which  had  evi- 
dently been  the  bedroom,  which  he  darkened  by 
means  of  hanging  their  coats  across  the  two  tiny 
windows. 

"  A  couple  o'  days  an'  you'll  be  all  O.K.,"  he  as- 
sured Barbara.  "  Then  we'll  start  for  the  Bay.  It 
ain't  more'n  sixty  or  seventy  mile  now. 

"  An'  before  we  go,"  he  added  to  himself,  "  you're 
goin'  to  tell  me  all  you  know  about  one  Herbert 
Roth!" 

It  was  about  midnight  that  Barbara  was  awak- 
ened by  a  slight  sound.  Someone  was  moving 
about,  seemingly  along  the  wall  toward  the  door  to 
the  next  room,  where  Cordez  and  Smoke  slept  be- 
fore the  fire,  and  Lord  Harold  sat  strapped  in  a 
chair. 

The  girl  was  about  to  call  to  Naomi,  when  the 
door  creaked  slightly  and  a  faint  gleam  from  the 
dying  fire  in  the  outer  room  fell  across  the  floor. 

Barbara  sat  up  in  bed.  She  could  not  see  the 
streak  of  light,  but  she  was  sure  the  door  had  been 
opened.  The  sound  of  someone  breathing  heavily 
came  to  her  ears. 

"  Naomi !  "  she  whispered. 


206  THE  TANG 

The  door  was  pushed  hastily  shut.  There  was  a 
pause,  and  the  woman  answered. 

"Yes  — Mees." 

"  Is  that  you  moving  about?  " 

"Yes  — Mees." 

"  What  are  you  doing  ?  " 

"  I  guess  —  mebbe  —  walk  in  sleep,"  replied  the 
woman. 

"  Go  back,"  commanded  the  girl,  sinking  down 
among  the  bedclothes  once  more.  "  It  is  strange," 
she  thought,  "  she  has  never  walked  before." 

The  girl  fell  asleep  again  in  ten  minutes.  At 
dawn  she  was  awakened  by  the  sound  of  excited 
voices  in  the  next  room.  It  was  Cordez  and  the  In- 
dian, talking  together  in  Cree.  Slowly  Barbara  be- 
came aware  that  the  voice  of  Cordez  was  angry  and 
that  the  Indian  was  apparently  endeavoring  to  de- 
fend himself.  Then  Cordez  uttered  an  oath  in  Eng- 
lish, there  was  the  sound  of  some  object  being  over- 
turned, and  then  the  repeated  thud  of  blows  on 
flesh.  Something  dropped  to  the  floor. 

Barbara  threw  off  the  covers  and  felt  her  way 
quickly  to  the  door  and  listened.  The  sound  of 
blows  had  stopped,  but  she  could  hear  hoarse  breath- 
ing and  Cordez'  voice  muttering  angrily  to  himself. 


THE  TANG  207 

She  could  not  catch  the  words.  She  reached  for 
one  of  the  coats,  slipped  it  on  and  opened  the  door. 

"  What  is  the  matter?  "  she  demanded  as  Cordez 
wheeled. 

"Damn  lot  the  matter!"  growled  the  man. 
"  Outlaw's  been  loosed !  " 

The  girl  caught  her  breath. 

"  You  mean  he's  —  gone?  " 

"  That's  what  I  mean.  An'  that  devil  on  the 
floor  is  the  one  what  done  it !  " 

Barbara  shrank  back  in  the  doorway. 

"  Oh !  "  she  faltered,  "  are  you  sure  ?  —  I  mean 
—  what  have  you  done  to  him  ?  " 

"  Nothin'  compared  to  what  I'd  like  to  do  to  'im ! 
But  unfortunately  I  got  to  spare  some  of  'im  to  go 
after  the  damned  murderer!  " 

Barbara  backed  into  the  room  and  shut  the  door. 

"  Get  up,  you  devil !  "  came  Cordez'  voice,  "  take 
the  dogs  an'  follow  'im.  An'  if  you  come  back 
without  'im  you'll  need  all  th'  evil  spirits  o'  yer 
damned  tribe  to  save  yuh !  " 

There  followed  a  succession  of  shuffling,  drag- 
ging sounds  which  indicated  to  Barbara  that  the  In- 
dian had  somehow  managed  to  drag  himself  across 
the  floor  and  out  of  the  door.  In  a  few  moments 


208  THE  TANG 

the  door  was  opened  again  and  she  heard  Smoke's 
voice,  excited  and  full  of  fear.  There  followed  a 
loud  shout  of  rage  from  Cordez,  and  then  the  bang- 
ing of  the  door  again. 

Barbara  went  out  into  the  other  room  and  crossed 
to  the  outside  door  and  opened  it.  Cordez  was 
shouting  epithets  at  Smoke  in  high  strung  rage,  and 
presently  there  came  the  sound  of  the  lashing  of  a 
whip  and  cries  of  pain  and  imploring.  Barbara  felt 
her  way  down  the  steps  and  toward  the  confusion. 

"Stop!"  she  called. 

The  sound  of  the  whiplash  ceased  as  Cordez 
turned. 

"  Go  back !  "  he  snarled.  "  This  is  a  man's  busi- 
ness, not  a  woman's !  " 

"And  where  is  the  man?"  cried  Barbara,  "I 
hear  no  one  but  a  beast!  If  you  haven't  heart 
enough,  perhaps  you  have  brains  enough  to  realize 
you  are  destroying  the  only  means  of  catching  the 
outlaw  again!  Besides,  how  do  you  know  Smoke 
cut  him  loose?  Did  you  see  him?  " 

"  No.  But  who  else  could  o'  done  it  ?  Unless," 
and  the  man's  voice  changed,  "  unless  it  was  — 

"  It  wasn't !  "  snapped  the  girl,  "  and  you  needn't 
suggest  it!  Nevertheless  you  have  no  proof  that 


THE  TANG  209 

Smoke  did  it,  and  until  you  have  you'll  kindly  cease 
this  brutality !  " 

"  Looka  here,  Miss,"  said  Cordez,  "  you  don't 
know  how  serious  this  here  business  is.  The 
Mounted  has  been  chasin'  that  slick  devil  fer  over 
three  years  now  an'  there  ain't  none  of  'em  come 
anywheres  near  'im  so  far.  An'  there  we  had  'im  all 
tied  up  an'  safe,  an'  someone  lets  'im  go!  An'  not 
only  that  but  he's  taken  all  our  dogs  an'  we  ain't 
got  a  chance  o'  catchin'  'im  again.  An'  if  my  In- 
dian didn't  set  'im  loose,  what  I  want  'o  know  is, 
who  did?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  said  Barbara  shortly,  "  but  at 
any  rate  it  is  done,  and  it  won't  do  any  good  to  beat 
Smoke  for  it.  Let  the  Mounted  track  him  down. 
It  is  their  business." 

"  It's  the  business  of  any  Canadian  citizen  to 
track  'im  down  —  and,"  he  added  suggestively, 
"  havin'  done  so,  to  see  that  whoever  offends  the 
Law  by  f reein'  'im  is  properly  punished !  " 

"What  do  you  mean?" 

"  I  mean  that  it's  an  offense  punishable  by  law 
to  free  a  criminal  —  an'  that  there's  only  three  peo- 
ple here  what  could  o'  done  it  an'  one  o'  them  three 
is  me,  an'  I  was  asleep.  You're  right  about  savin* 


210  THE  TANG 

the  Indian  to  go  after  'im.  He'll  go  on  snowshoes 
an'  he'll  not  come  back  until  he  finds  'im  —  an'  that 
ain't  liable  to  be  for  some  time!  An'  in  the  mean- 
time I'm  goin'  to  find  out  who  did  the  settin'  loose !  " 

"And  then?" 

"  I'm  goin'  to  prosecute  'em !  " 

The  girl  was  thinking  quickly.  The  memory  of 
Naomi  feeling  her  way  towards  the  door  in  the 
night  persisted  in  recurring  to  her.  Could  Naomi 
have  done  it?  And  if  so,  why?  Surely  she  had 
suffered  enough  at  the  hands  of  the  outlaw.  Why 
should  she  wish  him  to  escape  his  rightful  punish- 
ment? That  Smoke  had  really  done  it  seemed  un- 
likely. And  yet  it  was  surely  one  of  these  two. 
And  now  the  Indian  would  go  on  the  outlaw's  trail 
and  Cordez  would  probably  succeed  in  placing  the 
blame  upon  her  or  Naomi.  Why  he  should  do  so 
she  could  not  imagine,  but  that  that  was  his  inten- 
tion was  obvious  from  what  he  had  said. 

"Why  should  you  do  that?"  she  insisted,  "you, 
a  trapper,  many  miles  from  civilization.  Surely 
you  must  have  some  other  reason  aside  from  your 
desire  to  assist  in  the  execution  of  the  law." 

"  Listen ! "  said  Cordez,  leaning  forward  and 
catching  the  girl's  arm,  "  I've  got  a  reason  all  right. 


THE  TANG  211 

But  if  you'll  tell  me  somethin'  I  want  to  know,  there 
won't  be  no  prosecution.  I  want  you  to  tell  me 
what  you  know  of  the  owner  of  a  cardcase  I  found 
beside  your  trail  when  I  was  followin'  his  lordship's 
team !  " 

Barbara  drew  back  from  the  man.  She  was  sur- 
prised at  his  request,  but  not  in  the  least  alarmed. 
After  all,  why  should  she  not  tell  him  what  she 
knew  of  Herbert  Roth?  Perhaps  he  could  in  turn 
furnish  her  with  some  clue  to  the  things  which  were 
puzzling  her. 

"  I  cannot  imagine  why  you  should  be  interested," 
she  said  slowly,  "  but  I  will  gladly  tell  you  all  I 
know.  Perhaps  you  will  then  be  able  to  enlighten 
me.  I  found  the  cardcase  beside  my  campfire  on 
the  evening  of  our  seventh  day  out  from  Dawson  — 
on  the  banks  of  a  lake.  I  don't  know  why  I  kept 
it,  except  that  I  once  knew  of  a  man  by  the  name 
of  Herbert  Roth,  which,  as  you  know,  is  the  one 
engraved  upon  it." 

"  Ah !  "  exclaimed  Cordez,  "  and  this  man  —  did 
you  ever  see  him  ?  " 

"  I  once  saw  his  picture  —  in  the  newspapers. 
He  was  convicted  of  grand  larceny  and  my  brother 
was  the  lawyer  for  the  prosecution.  The  case  was 


212  THE  TANG 

quite  spectacular.  The  man  persisted  that  he  was 
innocent." 

Barbara  heard  Cordez  draw  a  quick  breath.  She 
knew  that  her  words  had  affected  him.  What  had 
this  man,  a  trapper,  away  off  here  in  the  wilds  of 
the  Northland,  to  do  with  Herbert  Roth? 

"  Tell  me !  "  Cordez  was  saying,  his  face  close  to 
hers.  "  Would  you  recognize  this  man  if  you  saw 
him?" 

"  I  am  sure  that  I  would,"  replied  the  girl,  "  in 
fact  I  believe  I  have  already  seen  —  and  recognized 
him." 

"Where?"  The  question  plainly  betrayed  the 
man's  perturbation. 

"  In  Ft.  Wrigley." 

"Good  God!" 

It  was  apparent  that  this  last  information  was  the 
most  disturbing  of  all. 

"  And  now,"  said  the  girl,  "  will  you  tell  me  what 
you  know  of  him?  " 

Without  replying  the  man  turned  to  the  Indian. 

"  Go !  "  he  commanded,  and  then  finished  his  or- 
ders in  Cree.  The  girl  heard  the  Indian  go  towards 
the  cabin  to  prepare  for  the  journey  in  search  of 
the  escaped  outlaw. 


THE  TANG  213 

"  I'm  sorry,"  Cordez  was  saying  hurriedly,  "  but 
I  can't  tell  you  anything.  An'  you  sure  was  right 
about  the  Indian.  He  ain't  fit  to  make  any  kind  of 
a  search  so  I  got  to  go  with  'im.  There's  provis- 
ions enough  left  —  an'  I'll  come  back." 

"  But  you  aren't  going  to  leave  us  here  alone  — 
without  any  means  of  getting  away!  "  exclaimed  the 
girl. 

"I'm  sorry  but  I  got  to  do  it!"  said  the  man, 
gruffly  now,  and  taking  her  by  the  arm  he  urged  her 
toward  the  cabin. 

"  You  must  go  back  into  the  room,"  he  said. 
"  You  mustn't  take  no  chances  with  your  eyes,  you 
know.  I'll  come  back,"  he  repeated. 

The  discourtesy  of  the  man,  his  treatment  of  the 
Indian,  and  his  failure  to  give  her  the  information 
concerning  Herbert  Roth,  which  she  was  certain  he 
possessed,  angered  Barbara.  She  shook  his  hand 
from  her  arm. 

"  You  needn't  trouble  to  come  back,"  she  said, 
"  I  think  we  can  manage  very  well  without  you. 
Besides,  if  you  are  seriously  undertaking  to  follow 
this  man,  how  do  you  expect  me  to  believe  you  will 
come  back?  He  has  the  dogs  and  is  far  ahead  of 
you  by  now?  " 


214  THE  TANG 

Cordez  did  not  reply.  Instead,  he  grasped  her 
arm  and  almost  shoved  her  to  the  door  of  the  bed- 
room. As  they  reached  the  door  it  was  opened 
from  the  inside  and  Naomi  stood  upon  the  thresh- 
old. The  bandage  was  off  her  eyes  and  they  were 
looking  at  Cordez.  Suddenly  releasing  Barbara  the 
man  sprang  forward  and  clapped  his  hand  over  the 
Indian  woman's  mouth,  at  the  same  time  pushing  her 
violently  back  into  the  room,  and  closing  the  door. 

Then,  brushing  past  her  and  snatching  his  coat, 
gun,  pack,  and  snowshoes,  he  burst  through  the  outer 
door  and  was  gone. 

As  the  door  slammed  behind  him,  Naomi  came 
out  of  the  bedroom. 

"  Mees  Clinton  is  gone?  "  she  inquired. 

"  Clinton !  "  exclaimed  Barbara. 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  Indian  woman,  "  it  is  he 
change  name." 

The  girl  was  thinking  rapidly. 

"  Are  you  sure,  Naomi  ?     How  do  you  know  ?  " 

"  Very  sure,  Mees.  Naomi  eyes  —  they  come 
back." 

"  But  why  should  he  choose  to  conceal  his  iden- 
tity?" 

"  I  don'  know,  Mees.     It  is  not  good !  " 


THE  TANG  215 

Slowly  the  full  import  of  the  situation  dawned 
upon  Barbara.  Clinton  of  the  Mounted.  Herbert 
Roth! 

During  that  day  Barbara  sat  in  the  darkened  room 
while  Naomi  busied  herself  about  the  cabin.  The 
girl's  mind  was  full  of  unanswered  questions. 
From  that  night  far  back  on  the  prairie  when  Lord 
Harold  had  first  made  his  appearance  beside  their 
campfire,  the  web  of  events  had  been  hopelessly 
tangling.  What  had  begun  as  a  search  for  her  lost 
brother  had  developed  into  a  mystery,  complex  and 
fraught  with  unpleasant  and  even  sinister  possibili- 
ties. 

The  fact  that  Clinton  of  the  Mounted  was  in 
reality  Herbert  Roth,  or  so  she  believed,  was  what 
disturbed  Barbara  the  most.  She  knew  that  the 
man  had  completed  his  term  in  prison,  and  this  fact 
dispelled  the  possibility  of  his  hiding  under  an  as- 
sumed name  to  cover  an  escape.  Why  he  had  come 
to  the  North,  and  why  he  should  be  so  much  dis- 
turbed at  having  been  recognized  by  her  in  Ft. 
Wrigley  was  puzzling  indeed.  The  only  solution 
which  Barbara  could  imagine  was  that  the  man  was 
seeking  vengeance  upon  Steve  for  having  convicted 
him. 


216  THE  TANG 

It  was  along  towards  evening  that  an  idea  sud- 
denly occurred  to  her.  She  went  into  the  outer 
room  where  Naomi  was  preparing  supper. 

"  Naomi,"  she  said,  "  this  Clinton  —  how  long 
has  he  been  in  the  Service?  " 

"  About  t'ree  year,  Mees,"  replied  the  woman. 

"  Three  years !     Are  you  sure  ?  " 

"  Yes,  Mees.  He  been  commission'  get  Lor' 
Har'ld  t'ree  year." 

"  Three  years !  "  exclaimed  the  girl.  "  And  Her- 
bert Roth  was  in  prison  until  one  year  and  six 
months  ago! " 

Presently  she  asked  again, 

"  Naomi,  I  want  you  to  tell  me  something.  I 
promise  to  keep  it  in  strict  confidence.  I  will  not 
tell  anyone,  you  understand?" 

"  Yes,  Mees." 

"  I  believe  it  was  you  who  freed  Lord  Harold. 
I  want  you  to  tell  me  if  I  am  right?  " 

Before  the  woman  could  reply  there  came  the 
sound  of  scratching  on  the  outside  door  and  a  dull 
thud,  as  though  a  heavy  weight  had  fallen  against 
it. 

Naomi  crossed  silently  and  leaned  against  it,  lis- 


THE  TANG  217 

tening.  There  was  no  further  sound.  Slowly  she 
lifted  the  latch,  opened  the  door  the  fraction  of  an 
inch,  and  peered  out.  Then  with  a  startled  excla- 
mation, she  threw  it  wide  and  knelt  beside  the  fur- 
clad  figure  which  fell  across  the  threshold. 

"  Mees  Lisle !  "  she  cried  as  she  raised  the  limp 
head,  "  Mees  Lisle !" 

With  a  cry  Barbara  ran  forward  and  fell  on  her 
knees  beside  them,  her  hands  groping.  Her  fingers 
found  the  fur  hood  and  crept  swiftly  to  the  thin 
features  framed  within  it. 

"  John !  "  she  cried  as  she  gathered  his  head  close 
in  her  arms.  "  John !  John !  " 

And  as  she  cried,  the  red  film  left  her  eyes  and 
she  saw  once  more  the  face  of  John  Lisle. 

For  the  first  time  the  tension  gave  way,  and  the 
spirit  of  courage  which  had  kept  her  up  so  long,  and 
it  was  just  a  tired  little  woman  who  sobbed  out 
broken  phrases  and  terms  of  endearment  into  the 
ears  of  the  man  she  loved. 

For  a  week  John  Lisle  lay  on  one  of  the  bunks  in 
the  bedroom  of  the  cabin  before  he  was  able  to  rise. 
Barbara  and  Naomi  moved  their  belongings  to  the 


218  THE  TANG 

outer  room,  where  Barbara  occupied  the  one  bunk, 
and  the  Indian  woman  slept  in  her  blankets  on  the 
floor  before  the  fire. 

On  the  morning  after  his  arrival  at  the  cabin, 
Lisle  regained  consciousness,  and  after  realizing 
that  Barbara  was  safe,  his  first  thought  was  for 
Danny  Blake. 

It  was  with  misty  eyes  that  he  told  Barbara  of 
the  exquisite  sacrifice  of  the  tenderfoot. 

"  I  must  go  back  to  him!  "  he  cried  as  he  tried  to 
rise. 

Gently  the  girl  pushed  him  back. 

"  You  cannot  go,"  she  said,  while  the  tears  flowed 
freely  from  her  eyes,  "  you  could  never  reach  him. 
Naomi  shall  go." 

Lisle's  thin  hand  stroked  her  hair  as  she  leaned 
across  the  edge  of  the  bunk  with  her  head  on  her 
arms  and  cried  out  her  sorrow  for  the  fate  of  Danny 
the  perfect  friend !  For  although  they  would  spare 
no  effort  to  find  him,  in  their  hearts  they  knew  that 
it  was  practically  a  hopeless  quest. 

"  Oh,  Danny,  Danny,  why  did  you  come?  "  cried 
the  girl  between  her  sobs.  "  It  is  so  terrible !  Al- 
most any  one  else  —  but  not  Danny!  " 

And  so,  with  a  pack  of  provisions  and  plenty  of 


THE  TANG  219 

ammunition,  Naomi  started  on  the  back  trail  in 
search  of  Danny  Blake.  Her  instructions  were,  if 
she  found  him  alive,  to  take  him  on  to  Fort  Church- 
ill. As  soon  as  Lisle  should  be  able  to  move  on,  he 
and  Barbara  would  also  start  for  the  Bay.  Secretly 
they  all  prayed  that  this  might  be  soon,  for  pro- 
visions were  low  indeed. 

After  Naomi  had  left,  Barbara  told  Lisle  of  her 
experiences  since  their  parting.  She  told  him  of  her 
former  conviction  concerning  the  identity  of  Clin- 
ton, and  also  of  how  that  conviction  had  been  un- 
settled by  Naomi's  statement  as  to  the  length  of 
Clinton's  enrollment  in  the  Service. 

"  You  must  indeed  have  been  mistaken,"  Lisle 
-said,  "  as  Naomi  is  quite  right.  Clinton  has  been 
in  the  Service  three  years,  and  has  been  on  the  trail 
of  Lord  Harold  all  during  that  time.  That  of 
course  explains  his  hurried  departure  on  the  trail 
of  the  outlaw  and  his  anger  with  the  Indian  whom 
he  believed  had  liberated  him,  although  I  can't  im- 
agine why  he  should  wish  to  hide  his  identity  from 
you.  That  he  is  in  some  way  connected  with  Her- 
bert Roth  certainly  seems  probable  from  what  you 
have  told  me,  but  as  Roth's  body  was  found  near 
the  edge  of  the  Barrens  just  two  years  ago,  the 


220  THE  TANG 

possibility  of  their  being  identical  is  eliminated." 

"Roth's  body!"  exclaimed  the  girl.  "Then 
Roth  — is  dead?" 

"  Yes." 

"  But  why  did  you  not  tell  me  this  when  I  told 
you  of  the  cardcase?  " 

"  It  was  not  necessary,"  replied  Lisle  shortly. 

Barbara  was  turning  over  the  situation  in  her 
mind. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  said  presently,  "  does  Clinton 
know  of  Roth's  death?" 

"  I  don't  know,"  replied  Lisle,  "  possibly  not. 
He  has  been  to  Dawson  but  three  times  since  start- 
ing out  on  Lord  Harold's  trail,  and  matters  aside 
from  his  own  commission  are  not  likely  to  have  been 
discussed  at  headquarters." 

Barbara  sat  silent  for  a  long  time.  Presently  she 
said,  turning  to  look  directly  at  Lisle, 

"Was  Roth  — murdered?" 

Lisle  turned  his  eyes  away. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  that,"  he  said.  As  he  spoke 
an  expression  of  pain  passed  over  his  face  which 
caused  the  girl  to  lean  forward  and  exclaim  quickly, 

"  I  have  tired  you  by  making  you  talk !  I  am  so 
sorry !  " 


THE  TANG  221 

"  No,"  said  Lisle,  "  you  haven't." 

"  I  will  leave  you  now,"  said  Barbara,  rising,  "  and 
I  shall  not  tire  you  again  with  questions.  For  in 
spite  of  what  you  say,  I  am  sure  that  I  have.  It  is 
all  a  hopeless  tangle  —  but  after  all,  it  is  not  for  me 
to  unravel.  If  I  can  only  find  Steve!  That  will  be 
enough !  " 

The  man  on  the  bunk  closed  his  eyes  and  turned 
his  head  toward  the  wall  that  the  girl  might  not 
again  see  the  ache  that  was  in  his  heart. 

At  the  end  of  a  week's  time  Lisle  was  up  and 
about  and  anxious  to  move  on.  Barbara  also  was 
restless  after  the  many  delays  in  her  quest  for  Steve. 
Accordingly  they  prepared  to  leave  at  dawn  on  the 
following  morning. 

During  the  days  in  which  Barbara  tended  to  the 
wants  of  the  sick  man  there  had  been  no  word  of 
love  between  them.  If  each  read  what  was  in  the 
other's  eyes,  they  took  care  to  conceal  the  fact. 
There  was  no  mention  of  the  impropriety  of  their 
circumstances.  The  causes  for  the  situation  were 
far  too  great  to  allow  of  any  recognition  of  super- 
ficial niceties.  In  fact  the  thought  had  scarcely  pre- 
sented itself  to  either  of  them.  To  Lisle,  who  was 


222  THE  TANG 

a  part  of  this  land  in  which  things  were  vital  and 
big  and  in  which  there  was  no  place  for  small  dis- 
tinctions, the  fact  of  their  isolation  together  so 
many  miles  from  civilization  was  no  more  unusual 
than  any  other  of  the  situations  in  which  he  had 
found  himself  during  the  term  of  his  service.  And 
when  Barbara  thought  of  it,  it  was  merely  to  feel 
a  thrill  of  wonder  and  delight  that  there  was  a  man 
in  the  world  with  whom  such  a  situation  should  seem 
so  devoid  of  any  unusual  significance. 

They  had  finished  their  packing  and  were  sitting 
before  the  fire  before  Barbara  should  go  to  her 
room.  Lisle  was  unusually  quiet,  and  Barbara  saw 
the  same  expression  in  his  eyes  that  had  been  there 
the  day  she  had  asked  him  if  Roth  had  been  mur- 
dered. Prompted  by  an  impulse  she  could  not  re- 
sist, the  girl  leaned  over  and  laid  her  hand  on  his 
arm,  looking  searchingly  into  his  face  as  he  gazed 
into  the  firelight. 

"  There  is  something  troubling  you,"  she  said 
softly,  "  I  know  —  and  it  is  probably  something 
which  you  cannot  tell  me.  But  I  wish  I  could  — 
help  you!  " 

The  firelight  touched  the  edges  of  her  dark  hair 


THE  TANG  223 

with  an  aureole  of  light  and  was  reflected  in  the 
depths  of  her  sweet  eyes. 

The  man  drew  a  deep  breath  as  he  turned  and 
looked  into  them  and  his  hand  closed  over  hers. 

"  I  wish  I  could  tell  you,"  he  said,  his  voice  be- 
traying his  emotion,  "  Barbara !  " 

As  he  spoke  her  name,  almost  in  a  whisper,  he 
rose  suddenly  to  his  feet,  drawing  her  up  with  him. 
For  an  instant  they  stood  thus,  their  eyes  speaking 
the  words  their  lips  dared  not.  Then  as  suddenly 
he  released  her  and  abruptly  turned  away. 

"  You  must  retire,"  he  said.  "  We  must  start  at 
dawn." 

For  a  long  time  Barbara  lay  looking  up  into  the 
rafters  which  were  dimly  lighted  by  the  cold  moon- 
light which  filtered  in  through  the  tiny  window. 
And  looking  down  upon  her  was  the  memory  of 
Lisle's  face  when  they  had  stood  together  before 
the  fire.  The  brilliant  light  and  the  intense  shadow 
had  thrown  into  bold  relief  the  superb  strength  of 
him  —  the  firm,  straight  mouth  with  its  little  wist- 
ful turn  at  the  corners,  and  the  deep  grey  eyes  in 
which  a  great  love  and  a  great  sorrow  seemed  strug- 
gling for  expression.  And  then  the  boyish,  ruffled 


224  THE  TANG 

wisps  of  fair  hair  that  straggled  wantonly  across 
the  tanned  forehead. 

"  Dear  little  boy !  "  she  whispered,  "  and  big  won- 
derful man,  all  in  one,  I  wonder  what  it  is  that 
troubles  you  ?  I  know  you  love  me  —  it  was  in 
your  eyes  to-night  —  and  yet  —  there  is  something 
besides  our  isolation  together  which  keeps  you  si- 
lent! But  whatever  it  is,  I  know  there  is  no  blot 
against  you  —  for  you  are  good  —  through  and 
through  and  through  —  and  it  is  more  because  of 
that,  than  because  you  are  so  good  to  look  upon, 
and  so  brave,  and  big  —  that  I  love  you!" 

Suddenly,  terrible  in  the  intense  stillness,  there 
came  a  sound  which  caused  the  girl  to  spring  from 
the  bed  like  a  white  streak  of  lightning,  cross  the 
room  to  the  door  and  stand  trembling  and  horror- 
eyed  on  the  threshold.  The  room  was  empty  and 
the  outside  door  stood  open.  By  the  dim  light  from 
the  embers  of  the  fire  she  saw  the  broken  window 
and  the  pieces  of  glass  that  had  crashed  to  the  floor 
beneath  it.  And  following  with  her  eyes  the 
thought  in  her  mind,  she  saw  the.  gleam  of  a  bullet 
which  stuck  into  the  wall  opposite  the  window.  Un- 
mindful of  the  freezing  air  which  streamed  in 


THE  TANG  225 

through  the  open  door,  she  sprang  forward  and  out 
onto  the  top  step. 

Two  men  were  fighting  in  the  clearing  in  front 
of  the  cabin.  They  were  clearly  outlined  in  the 
moonlight  as  they  lurched  and  pitched  together  in 
the  deep  snow.  They  fought  silently,  their  hard 
breathing,  and  the  sound  of  blows  on  flesh  as  an 
arm  struggled  free,  being  the  only  break  in  the  dead 
silence.  Barbara  could  not  distinguish  the  one 
from  the  other,  so  tightly  were  they  clinched  and 
so  rapidly  did  they  lunge  and  writhe. 

The  girl  stood  as  though  turned  to  stone,  her 
eyes  fastened  on  the  silent  battle  in  wide-eyed  hor- 
ror. She  knew  that  one  of  the  fighters  was  Lisle, 
and  she  tried  to  call  to  him,  but  her  voice  would  not 
come. 

Suddenly  one  of  the  figures  wrenched  itself  free, 
sending  the  other  sprawling  with  a  terrific  blow  un- 
der the  jaw,  and  as  he  sprang  back  he  whipped  out 
his  gun  and  aimed  at  the  fallen  figure.  On  the  in- 
stant Barbara  recognized  the  slim  graceful  outlines 
of  Lord  Harold! 

As  the  outlaw  aimed,  Lisle  struggled  to  his  feet 
and  lunged  toward  his  opponent.  With  a  terrified 


226  THE  TANG 

gasp  Barbara  realized  that  he  was  unarmed.  Lord 
Harold  had  pulled  the  trigger.  He  was  not  more 
than  four  yards  away  from  the  steps.  With  a  cry 
that  would  have  curdled  her  blood  had  she  heard 
it  from  the  lips  of  another,  she  shot  headlong  from 
the  step,  her  arms  above  her  head,  her  body  arched 
as  for  a  dive  from  a  springboard.  The  cry  startled 
the  outlaw  and  the  shot  went  wild.  Just  as  the  re- 
port sounded  the  girl's  body  crashed  down  upon  the 
crouching  man  and  tumbled  forward  into  the  snow 
upon  the  smoking  gun. 

And  at  the  same  instant,  something  else  came  out 
of  the  darkness  and  hurled  itself  upon  the  man! 

For  a  moment  there  was  a  sickening  crunch  as  a 
pair  of  iron  jaws  and  gleaming  fangs  sank  into  hu- 
man flesh  and  bone.  With  a  terrible  shriek  of 
agony  the  outlaw  went  down  under  a  great  black 
body.  Knife-like  fangs  gleamed  in  the  moonlight 
as  they  struck  for  the  man's  throat. 

Before  Lisle  could  reach  Barbara  she  had  re- 
gained her  feet  and  sprang  for  the  great  beast  as  it 
struck  for  the  second  time. 

"Silver!"  she  cried,  "Silver!  Stop!  Down! 
Silver !  Down !  " 

Frantically  she  grasped  for  the  long  shaggy  hair 


THE  TANG  227 

of  the  dog's  neck,  twisted  it  in  her  fingers  and  pulled 
and  jerked  backward  with  all  her  strength.  The 
dog  seemed  not  to  hear  her.  Crouching,  he  drew 
his  muscles  for  another  spring,  just  as  Lisle  caught 
his  hind  legs  in  a  vice-like  grip.  With  a  snarl  of 
rage  the  dog  turned  upon  Lisle.  But  quick  as  he 
was,  a  pair  of  small  white  arms  were  quicker.  They 
shot  about  his  neck  and  closed  like  tiny  bands  of 
steel,  and  a  cloud  of  heavy  black  hair  fell  forward 
across  his  face.  The  lunge  was  broken,  and  the 
girl  and  the  dog  went  down  together,  struggling  and 
kicking  in  the  snow. 

"  Silver!  "  called  a  voice  close  to  the  shaggy  ear, 
"  Oh,  Silver." 

Suddenly  the  dog  ceased  struggling.  With  a  low 
whine  he  tried  to  raise  his  muzzle  to  the  face  that 
was  so  close  to  his  own.  Slowly  the  arms  which 
clung  so  tightly  to  his  neck  relaxed  a  little,  and 
through  the  maze  of  her  hair  he  found  the  soft,  cold 
cheek  of  his  beloved  mistress,  and  lapped  it  with  his 
tongue. 


CHAPTER  TEN 

When  Lisle  had  taken  the  cold,  trembling  girl 
back  into  the  cabin  and  assured  himself  that  she  was 
not  suffering  a  great  deal  from  the  exposure,  he 
went  out  to  where  the  outlaw  lay  motionless  in  the 
snow.  A  dark  stream  was  gathering  about  his 
head. 

The  outlaw  was  not  dead.  But  the  great  dog  had 
done  the  work  of  his  vengeance  thoroughly  enough 
to  convince  Lisle  that  the  man  had  almost  reached 
the  end  of  his  last  trail.  He  carried  him  into  the 
cabin  and  laid  him  on  the  bunk  in  the  outer  room. 

Barbara  had  tied  Silver  in  the  cabin.  She  was 
exhausted  from  her  experience  and  badly  scratched 
from  her  struggle  with  the  dog,  so  for  several  hours 
she  lay  still.  Then  she  went  out  to  where  Lisle 
was  sitting  beside  the  outlaw's  bunk. 

"  Good!  "  said  Lisle  when  he  saw  her,  "  I'm  glad 
to  see  you're  feeling  well  enough  to  get  up." 

Then  coming  over  and  taking  both  her  hands  in 

his  he  said  gravely, 

228 


THE  TANG  229 

"You  were  splendid!  If  you  hadn't  acted  just 
when  you  did  you'd  probably  have  been  left  alone  in 
the  middle  of  this  wilderness  with  two  dead  men  on 
your  hands.  As  it  is,  there  will  be  —  but  one." 

Barbara  looked  quickly  at  the  outlaw  and  then 
turned  away.  The  man's  face  was  indeed  the  color 
of  death  and  there  was  a  great  gash  across  his  fore- 
head which  Lisle  could  not  hide  with  the  coverlet. 

"  You  think  he's  — " 

"  Done  for,"  said  Lisle.  "  He  may  come  to  for 
awhile,  but  I  think  he  can't  possibly  pull  through." 

Barbara  shuddered. 

"  It's  terrible !  "  she  whispered.  "  As  bad  as  he 
is,  I  would  have  spared  him  a  death  like  that  if  I 
could." 

"You  tried,"  replied  Lisle,  "splendidly!  And 
after  all,  it  spares  him  from  what  would  be  coming 
to  him  later  on.  By  the  way,"  he  added,  "  how  did 
you  recognize  Silver  so  quickly,  and  how  do  you 
suppose  he  managed  to  get  here  ?  " 

"  I  don't  know,"  Barbara  replied,  "  I  just  seemed 
to  know  him.  As  for  how  he  got  here  I  can't  im- 
agine. He  was  certainly  left  for  dead.  But  then 
when  I  look  at  him  it  occurs  to  me  that  it  would  take 
a  good  deal  to  kill  him,  after  all." 


230  THE  TANG 

"  You  are  right,"  said  Lisle,  looking  at  the  great 
dog  as  he  lay  at  the  end  of  the  thong  which  tied  him, 
his  eyes  fastened  on  Barbara  in  abject  adoration. 

"  And  I  guess,  judging  from  what  I  read  in  his 
eyes,  that  it  would  take  a  good  deal  to  keep  him 
from  finding  you !  " 

Barbara  smiled  and  went  over  to  the  dog. 

"  Silver,"  she  said  as  she  knelt  and  buried  her 
face  in  the  long  hair  of  his  neck,  "  I  want  you  to 
find  Steve's  trail,  and  follow  him  —  like  that !  " 

As  she  finished  speaking  there  was  a  sound  from 
the  bunk.  The  outlaw  had  opened  his  eyes  and  was 
looking  at  them.  Lisle  crossed  to  him. 

The  man  was  struggling  to  speak.  Lisle  leaned 
nearer  to  him  and  in  a  moment  he  caught  the  words. 

"  He  wants  to  speak  to  you,"  Lisle  said  to  Bar- 
bara. 

The  girl  crossed  to  the  bunk  and  leaned  over. 

"You've  done  for  me!"  whispered  the  outlaw, 
looking  up  into  her  face  with  an  expression  which 
should  have  belonged  on  the  face  of  an  adoring 
child,  "  a  woman  —  and  what  no  man's  been  able 
to  do!  —  But  you're  beautiful  —  so  beautiful  that 
I  —  and  you're  courageous  —  that's  the  best  of  all! 
So  courageous  that  I  —  you  won't  believe  it,  but  it's 


THE  TANG  231 

true  —  I  love  you !  I've  laughed  at  courage  in  men 
—  shoot  them  in  the  back  if  you  can  —  was  my 
motto !  " 

He  paused  for  breath.  Lisle  brought  him  water, 
after  which  he  went  on  again. 

"  There's  just  one  other  person  in  the  world  that 
I  —  wouldn't  double-cross  again  if  I  could!  He 
didn't  have  your  courage,  I  think,  but  he's  white  — 
so  white  that  he  didn't  make  any  distinction  between 
a  man  that  was  and  one  that  wasn't,  when  it  came 
to  fine  points.  It  was  out  yonder.  He  found  my 
trail  and  he  followed  me.  He  wore  a  red  coat  — 
and  that  was  reason  enough  for  me  to  shoot  him.  I 
took  the  coat  and  left  him  to  die.  He  didn't.  One 
day  we  came  upon  one  another  —  suddenly  — 
around  a  cliff.  We  both  shot  at  once  —  and  he  got 
me  —  and  I  fell  down  the  cliff.  He  knew  who  I 
was  —  and  what  I  was  —  and  he  despised  me.  And 
yet  he  climbed  down  that  cliff  at  the  risk  of  his  own 
life  —  and  got  me  —  and  took  me  to  his  cabin !  He 
took  care  of  me  —  and  pulled  me  through.  And 
then  when  I  thought  I  was  well  enough  I  drew  on 
him  so  I  could  get  away.  He  told  me  he  didn't 
belong  to  the  Mounted  —  any  more.  That  he  was 
wanted,  too.  But  I  shot  him  anyway  —  and  bolted. 


232  THE  TANG 

He  looked  like  you,  somehow  —  his  eyes  — "  the 
man's  voice  was  rapidly  growing  weaker.  Barbara 
had  difficulty  in  catching  the  words. 

"  I  had  seen  this  man  before,"  he  was  saying,  his 
eyes  on  Lisle  now,  "  near  the  edge  of  a  —  lake  — 
about  three  hundred  —  miles  out  from  —  Dawson 
—  if  —  you  ever  —  find  him  —  and  you  take  him  — 
I'll  haunt  you  — /  " 

Lisle  came  forward  suddenly. 

"  You  must  tell  me  —  do  you  know  where  this 
man  is  now  ?  " 

The  outlaw  nodded. 

"Yes,"  he  gasped,  "I  know.  But  I  won't  — 
tell  you! " 

Lisle  whispered  hurriedly  to  Barbara. 

"You  must  get  him  to  tell  you  if  you  can!  "  he 
said,  "  I  believe  it  might  be  your  brother !  " 

"Steve!"  exclaimed  the  girl,  speaking  aloud. 
"But  how  —  ?" 

The  outlaw  stirred. 

"  Steve !  "  he  repeated.  "  Yes,  that  was  it,  Steve !  " 
And  closing  his  eyes  he  appeared  to  swoon  again. 

"We  must  bring  him  to,"  said  Lisle,  going  for 
more  water.  "  A  few  words  more,  perhaps,  and 
we'll  be  near  the  end  of  your  quest!  " 


THE  TANG  233 

He  worked  over  the  man  for  a  few  minutes  and 
was  presently  rewarded.  The  outlaw  opened  his 
eyes  again.  Barbara  leaned  over  him  and  spoke 
quickly. 

"  Listen !  "  she  said,  "  I  have  reason  to  believe  the 
man  you  speak  of  is  my  brother.  I  have  come  into 
the  North  to  find  him.  If  you  indeed  love  me  as 
you  say  you  do,  you  will  tell  me  where  he  is !  " 

The  outlaw  did  not  reply  at  once.  His  eyes  were 
on  the  girl's  face.  Then  he  said, 

"  Your  brother !  Yes,  perhaps  he  is !  I  see  it 
now  —  it  is  your  eyes !  They  — " 

"  Tell  me ! "  whispered  the  girl  breathlessly. 
"You  must  tell  me!  Where  is  he?" 

The  outlaw  tried  to  speak.  His  breath  was  com- 
ing in  agonized  gasps.  He  looked  from  Barbara  to 
Lisle  as  though  undecided.  Then  as  she  leaned 
closer  she  heard  him  whisper, 

"If  he  —  takes  him  I'll  —  haunt  him  — " 

"  He  won't !  He  won't !  "  cried  the  girl.  "  He's 
helping  me  to  find  him!  You  must  tell  me  —  you 
must  —! " 

The  outlaw  was  speaking  again.  His  lips  were 
close  to  the  girl's  ear.  She  strained  to  catch  the 
words. 


234  THE  TANG 

"  Yes  —  he  will.  Steve's  wanted  —  and  he'll 
take  him !  " 

A  cold  perspiration  began  to  come  out  over  Bar- 
bara. She  did  not  understand  the  man  at  once,  but 
there  was  something  about  what  he  was  saying 
which  gripped  her  with  an  instinctive  fear.  Her 
own  voice  was  scarcely  more  than  a  whisper  when 
she  spoke  again. 

"  He  won't !  "  she  repeated,  "  I  tell  you  I  won't 
let  him !  But  you  must  tell  me !  " 

The  outlaw  drew  one  long  agonized  breath  and 
then  his  lips  framed  the  words  but  no  sound  came 
through. 

"  You  promise !  —  Cabin.  Twenty  —  miles  — 
north!" 

Lord  Harold  died  two  hours  later.  Lisle  buried 
him  in  a  clearing  some  distance  from  the  cabin.  On 
a  crude  wooden  tablet  he  carved  the  words,  "  Lord 
Harold." 

During  those  two  hours  that  the  man  and  the  girl 
sat  by  the  dying  man's  bedside,  but  one  question 
and  one  answer  passed  between  them. 

When  Barbara  had  risen  after  hearing  the  last 


THE  TANG  235 

words  of  the  outlaw  she  had  turned  to  Lisle,  and 
he  had  read  the  question  in  her  eyes. 

"What  does  he  mean?"  she  had  said,  "when 
he  says  that  Steve  is  wanted  and  that  you  will  take 
him?  Is  that  true?" 

"  Yes,"  Lisle  had  replied,  "  it  is  true." 

The  girl  went  deathly  white  but  she  said  nothing. 
Lisle  thought  she  was  going  to  fall  and  he  put  out 
his  hand,  but  she  drew  back  from  him  and  went 
over  to  the  chair  beside  the  bunk.  In  that  brief  mo- 
ment Lisle  had  read  in  her  eyes  the  thing  which  he 
had  dreaded. 

When  he  came  back  from  burying  Lord  Harold 
she  was  sitting  where  he  had  left  her.  She  rose 
and  faced  him,  pale  but  entirely  composed. 

"  What  are  you  going  to  do  —  now  ?  "  she  asked 
evenly. 

The  bluntness  of  the  question  was  rather  unex- 
pected. Lisle's  glance  shifted  and  fell,  and  his 
voice  sounded  strange  as  he  replied. 

"I'm  going  —  after  him." 

The  girl  swayed  a  little  but  her  words  came 
clearly. 

"  And  you've  been  after  him  all  the  time  —  for 
this?" 


236  THE  TANG 

"  Yes." 

There  was  a  long  pause,  in  which  the  man  wished 
the  girl  would  not  look  at  him  so  steadily.  For  the 
first  time  in  his  life  he  found  it  impossible  squarely 
to  meet  the  eyes  of  another.  But  the  tone  in  which 
her  next  words  were  spoken  made  him  start  and 
look  at  her  in  amazement. 

A  flush  had  mounted  to  her  face.  Her  eyes 
seemed  to  have  grown  twice  their  original  size  and 
in  their  depths  was  no  longer  the  soft  cool  shadow 
of  snow.  A  fire  burned  there ! 

"  Two  hours  ago,"  she  was  saying  slowly,  "  I 
loved  you!  I  loved  you  as  I  always  had  believed  I 
should  some  day  love  some  man!  I  loved  you  be- 
cause you  were  good!  Because  you  seemed  to  me 
to  be  the  one  man  I  had  ever  met  who  would  not  do 
a  cowardly  thing!  I  can  tell  you  that  now,  even 
though  you  have  never  spoken  of  love  to  me  — 
because  I  see  how  very  much  I  was  wrong!  and  be- 
cause I  dislike  you  as  I  loved  you  —  with  all  my 
heart! " 

The  man  winced  under  the  stinging  words  and  the 
hard,  merciless  tone  of  her  voice. 

"What  is  Steve  wanted  for?" 

"Murder!" 


THE  TANG  237 

"Murder!"  The  pause  which  followed  the  ter- 
rified breathing  of  the  word  was  the  longest  moment 
in  the  lives  of  either  of  these  two.  Lisle  felt  that 
if  the  girl  fell  he  would  not  dare  to  touch  her  — 
that  she  had  suddenly  surrounded  herself  with  some- 
thing which  he  was  too  gross  and  too  menial  to  ap- 
proach. But  she  did  not  fall.  She  gripped  the 
edge  of  the  bunk  and  stared  at  him  with  horror  and 
unbelief  written  upon  her  face. 

"  I  don't  believe  it !  "  she  whispered,  "  I  don't  — 
believe  it! " 

The  man  did  not  reply.  There  was  nothing  for 
him  to  say.  He  had  anticipated  her  attitude. 

"  Murder ! "  breathed  the  girl  again.  "  Of 
whom?  " 

Lisle  swallowed  hard. 

"  Herbert  Roth,"  he  replied. 

For  fully  two  minutes  there  was  no  sound  within 
the  cabin.  Then  suddenly  the  girl  sank  into  the 
chair  and  buried  her  face  in  her  arms  across  the 
edge  of  the  bunk.  Lisle  stood  looking  at  her  for 
a  moment,  his  hands  gripped  in  an  effort  to  control 
the  emotion  which  surged  over  him.  Then  he  turned 
and  went  out  onto  the  steps. 


238  THE  TANG 

When  Lisle  came  back  the  room  was  empty.  The 
door  to  Barbara's  room  was  shut,  Silver  was  gone. 
Apparently  Barbara  had  taken  the  dog  into  the  room 
with  her  —  as  partial  solace,  Lisle  thought. 

He  put  some  extra  sticks  on  the  fire  and  sat  down 
beside  it.  He  knew  it  would  be  useless  to  attempt 
to  sleep.  Besides,  the  problem  of  what  to  do  with 
Barbara  was  unsolved. 

He  could  not  leave  her  here  alone,  even  with  the 
dog  as  protection,  and  himself  continue  the  search 
for  Steve.  Provisions  were  low,  and  it  was  too 
long  a  chance  to  take  that  he  would  be  able  to  return 
to  the  cabin  soon  again. 

He  finally  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the  best 
thing  to  do  was  to  take  Barbara  to  Fort  Churchill 
and  return  at  once  in  search  of  Steve. 

To  take  her  on  the  trail  to  Steve's  cabin  which 
was  only  twenty  miles  distant  occurred  to  him,  but 
he  realized  the  difficulties  which  this  course  would 
involve  in  the  end. 

Dawn  came  in  four  hours.  Lisle  prepared  break- 
fast and  then,  hearing  no  sound  from  Barbara's 
room  he  went  across  and  knocked  softly  on  the  door. 
There  was  no  answer.  He  knocked  again,  a  trifle 
louder,  and  when  there  was  still  no  reply,  he  called, 


THE  TANG  239 

"  I'm  sorry  to  wake  you  —  but  breakfast  is  ready 
—  and  we  must  start." 

There  was  still  no  answer.  Lisle  listened  a  mo- 
ment, and  hearing  no  sound  he  knocked  again. 
Then  suddenly  a  thought  struck  him,  and  turning 
he  strode  to  the  outer  door,  beside  which  his  and 
Barbara's  snowshoes  had  hung.  The  peg  on  which 
the  girl's  had  been  was  empty ! 

With  an  exclamation  Lisle  sprang  back  to  her 
door  and  pounded  loudly,  then,  hardly  waiting  for 
any  reply,  he  tried  it.  It  was  bolted  from  the  in- 
side. 

He  went  out  and  around  the  cabin  to  her  window. 
It  was  open  —  and  leading  away  from  it  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  north  were  the  tracks  of  a  pair  of 
snowshoes  —  and  a  dog ! 

Lisle  lost  no  time  in  making  preparations  to  fol- 
low the  girl.  He  grabbed  the  packs  which  they  had 
prepared  for  their  journey,  and  set  forth  upon  her 
trail.  She  had  a  good  five  hours'  start,  as  she  had 
no  doubt  left  while  he  had  sat  on  the  steps  following 
those  terrible  few  moments  of  her  disillusionment. 
But  in  her  haste  she  had  taken  no  food,  and  he  was 
confident  that  he  could  overtake  her. 

At  eight  o'clock  the  sky  grew  suddenly  dark  and 


240  THE  TANG 

the  wind  blew  down  from  the  north.  Lisle  quick- 
ened his  pace.  If  there  was  to  be  a  storm  he  must 
reach  her  before  it  became  intense.  The  packs 
were  heavy  and  the  night  had  been  unusually  warm 
so  that  the  snow  was  soft  and  the  shoes  sunk  sev- 
eral inches  at  each  stride. 

But  he  did  not  reach  her  before  it  broke.  It  was 
one  of  those  which  give  little  warning  but  which  are 
none  the  less  violent.  Lisle  was  soon  surrounded 
by  a  great  whirling  eddy  of  snow.  He  bent  low  to 
protect  his  eyes,  and  that  he  might  not  miss  the  trail 
ahead  of  him  which  was  rapidly  growing  more  in- 
distinct. He  was  almost  running  in  spite  of  the 
heavy  load  and  the  softness  of  the  snow. 

For  two  hours  he  kept  up  this  pace  and  then  he 
stopped  and  unstrapped  one  of  the  packs.  It  con- 
tained half  of  the  provisions,  and  half  of  the  am- 
munition which  Barbara  and  Naomi  had  brought 
with  them,  and  the  other  pack  contained  the  rest. 
He  divided  the  ammunition,  put  half  of  it  with  all 
the  provisions  into  one  pack,  and  started  on  again. 

Barbara's  trail  had  now  become  completely  oblit- 
erated. But  Lisle  knew  that  she  would  continue  to 
go  north,  unless  the  storm  should  become  so  intense 
that  she  should  lose  her  direction. 


THE  TANG  241 

For  two  hours  more  he  mushed  on  at  top  speed. 
His  back  ached  and  his  legs  were  numb.  That  Bar- 
bara could  not  be  far  ahead  he  felt  certain,  but  the 
possibility  of  her  swerving  from  the  right  direction 
sufficiently  for  him  to  miss  her  troubled  him.  If  the 
storm  would  only  cease ! 

Another  hour  wore  away  and  his  pace  was  con- 
siderably lessened.  The  wind  blew  steadily  against 
him  and  he  sank  deeper  at  each  step  as  the  snowfall 
increased. 

And  then  as  suddenly  as  it  had  come  the  storm 
passed.  And  following  it  came  a  cold  spell  equal- 
ling the  one  during  which  Lisle  and  Danny  Blake 
had  lain  helpless  on  the  snowfield  some  time  ago. 
The  thermometer  dropped  to  seventy  inside  of  four 
hours ! 

The  increased  cold  packed  the  snow  harder  so 
that  it  was  easier  travelling.  Lisle  kept  a  sharp 
lookout  to  the  left  and  right  in  case  Barbara  had 
wandered  from  the  straight  course.  The  fact  that 
she  had  no  food,  in  view  of  the  intense  cold,  troubled 
Lisle  even  though  he  knew  it  made  his  chances  of 
overtaking  her  more  secure.  If  he  should  have 
missed  her !  He  would  soon  know  —  for  now  that 


242  THE  TANG 

the  snowfall  had  ceased  he  should  shortly  come 
upon  her  trail  again. 

Until  nearly  dark  he  trudged  on.  He  figured  he 
must  be  within  five  or  six  miles  of  the  cabin.  Some 
distance  ahead  he  could  dimly  discern  a  line  of  trees. 
The  cabin  would  be  somewhere  within  their  border. 
But  where  was  Barbara's  trail? 

It  was  pitch  dark  when  he  reached  the  border  of 
trees.  To  find  either  a  trail  or  a  cabin  seemed  ut- 
terly impossible.  He  stumbled  on,  walking  into 
stumps  which  he  could  not  see,  and  now  and  then 
stumbling  over  snowcovered  rocks.  The  cold  pen- 
etrated through  his  furs.  His  hands  and  feet  were 
numb  and  his  legs  worked  in  heavy  automation. 
The  pack  seemed  to  weigh  tons  and  his  back  ached 
cruelly  beneath  the  load  of  it. 

Suddenly  he  walked  directly  into  something  which 
rose  high  before  him  in  the  blackness.  He  could 
not  see  it,  but  he  knew  it  to  be  a  wall,  and  feeling 
it,  recognized  the  circular  rough  logs  of  the  side  of 
a  cabin.  With  a  groan  he  realized  that  he  had 
found  the  place  for  which  he  had  been  searching, 
and  that  Barbara  was  not  there ! 

He  felt  his  way  around  to  the  door  and  after 
kicking  away  the  drift  of  snow  which  was  piled  be- 


THE  TANG  243 

fore  it,  he  tried  the  latch.  It  yielded  hard,  but  it 
was  not  locked.  Once  inside  he  dropped  his  pack 
to  the  floor  and  struck  a  match.  A  glance  assured 
him  that  the  cabin  had  been  unoccupied  for  some 
time.  Either  the  outlaw  had  lied,  or  Steve  had  left 
it  some  time  before. 

With  a  sick  heart  Lisle  picked  up  the  pack,  swung 
it  again  to  his  shoulder,  and  went  out,  closing  the 
door  with  a  bang. 

"  I'm  a  hell  of  a  hero!"  he  muttered  savagely. 

All  night  Lisle  wandered  about  in  the  pitch  black- 
ness calling  the  name  of  Barbara.  He  made  no  at- 
tempt to  keep  a  straight  course.  There  was  no  need 
for  it  now.  She  was  as  liable  to  have  gone  one 
way  as  another  and  the  only  thing  he  could  do  was 
to  attempt  to  make  himself  heard.  The  cold  had 
crept  through  his  every  muscle.  Each  move  was  an 
effort.  But  he  scarcely  thought  of  it.  Once  he 
stopped,  undid  his  pack  and  ate  an  end  of  bread,  a 
piece  of  dried  fish,  and  a  handful  of  snow.  He 
knew  he  must  not  let  his  vitality  run  too  low.  But 
although  he  was  in  need  of  the  food  it  almost  choked 
him. 

At  dawn  he  found  himself  two  miles  south  of  the 


244  THE  TANG 

line  of  trees  in  which  the  cabin  stood.  Apparently 
he  had  wandered  in  the  close  vicinity  all  night.  He 
made  himself  strong  coffee  and  finished  the  loaf  of 
bread.  Then  he  struck  east,  still  calling,  using  his 
mittened  hands  as  a  megaphone. 

The  dawn  was  grey  and  gave  signs  of  further 
snowfall.  Lisle  kept  circling  slowly  southeast,  in- 
tending to  circle  his  back  trail  and  bring  up  at  the 
cabin  again  in  the  hope  that  Barbara  had  finally  ar- 
rived. 

It  was  almost  dusk  when  a  tiny  dark  spot  on  the 
western  horizen  attracted  his  attention.  He  was 
staggering  now  at  almost  every  stride  and  his  lips 
were  blue  from  the  cold.  Gathering  all  his  remain- 
ing strength  he  quickened  his  pace  and  made  for  the 
spot. 

When  he  came  to  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of 
it,  it  appeared  to  divide  in  half.  The  one  half 
moved  about,  seeming  to  circle  round  the  other. 
Lisle's  pulse  quickened  and  when  he  had  gone  a  few 
yards  further  he  put  his  mittened  hands  to  his  lips 
and  called  again. 

"Barbara!     Barbara!" 

The  moving  spot  stopped  still,  and  with  a  sudden 
thought,  Lisle  called  again,  this  time, 


THE  TANG  245 

"Silver!     Here,  Silver!     OH!     SILVER!" 

With  a  moan  of  relief  and  joy  Lisle  saw  the  dark 
spot  begin  to  move  toward  him,  and  as  it  came 
steadily  on  Lisle  called  again, 

"  SILVER !     SILVER !  " 

In  less  than  five  minutes  the  long  black  body  of 
the  dog  had  covered  the  distance,  and  had  come  to 
a  standstill  a  few  yards  from  Lisle.  He  seemed  to 
realize  that  the  man  was  indeed  a  friend.  There  was 
no  show  of  animosity  as  on  former  occasions.  He 
stood  looking  at  Lisle  for  a  moment  as  though  to 
make  sure,  and  then  he  turned  and  began  to  trot 
back  over  his  trail,  looking  from  time  to  time  to  see 
that  Lisle  was  following. 

Barbara  lay  doubled  up  in  the  snow,  one  arm  flung 
above  her  head  as  she  had  fallen.  Her  face  was 
ashen  and  her  lips  were  blue.  When  Lisle  gath- 
ered her  in  his  arms  Silver  whimpered  softly  and 
tried  to  lap  her  face. 

Lisle  removed  his  coat  and  wrapped  it  about  her, 
charing  her  hands  and  holding  a  flask  to  her  lips. 
Then  he  laid  her  gently  on  the  snow,  while  he  built  a 
fire  and  prepared  coffee.  While  he  waited  for  the 
water  to  boil  he  went  to  her  again,  holding  her  head 


246  THE  TANG 

on  his  knees,  trying  to  coax  warmth  back  into  the 
small  blue  hands. 

Finally  the  girl  stirred  and  opened  her  eyes.  Lisle 
was  bending  over  her.  For  a  moment  she  appeared 
dazed  and  then  slowly  she  recognized  him.  For 
one  fleeting  second  her  eyes  lighted  up  with  a  smile 
of  joy  and  greeting  —  and  then  suddenly  it  died  out, 
as  she  remembered.  In  that  one  moment  Lisle  had 
bent  and  kissed  her,  drawn  by  an  impulse  which  he 
could  not  resist. 

"  Barbara !  "  he  murmured,  "  Barbara !  " 

The  girl  groaned  softly  and  turned  her  head  away, 
struggling  to  rise.  Lisle  helped  her  to  a  sitting  posi- 
tion and  then,  seeing  her  expression,  he  went  over 
to  the  fire  and  began  to  pour  the  coffee. 

She  took  the  cup  he  offered  in  silence,  evading  his 
eyes.  When  she  had  sipped  it  she  seemed  to  gain 
strength.  A  slight  bit  of  color  came  into  her  cheeks 
and  her  eyes  brightened.  The  fire  was  beginning  to 
burn  in  them  again. 

"  You  kissed  me !  "  she  exclaimed,  finally,  her 
tone  hard.  "  You  dared  to  do  that !  I  suppose  you 
think  you  earned  it  for  rescuing  me !  You  didn't !  " 

"  I'm  sorry,"  said  Lisle.  It  sounded  banal.  "  I 
—  I  couldn't  help  it." 


THE  TANG  247 

"  No !  I  suppose  you  couldn't  help  your  despica- 
ble method  of  tracking  down  my  brother,  either! 
Nor  will  you  be  able  to  help  arresting  him,  if  you 
find  him!" 

"  No,"  Lisle  replied  more  firmly,  "  I  couldn't  — 
and  I'll  have  to." 

"  I  know,"  the  girl  went  on,  "  you  will  say  it  is 
the  Law  —  that  it  is  your  duty!  Ugh!  It  is  in- 
deed a  helpless  Law  —  and  a  strange  duty  which  re- 
quires such  means  to  work  its  ends !  " 

"  What  do  you  intend  to  do  now?  " 

"  Take  you  on,"  replied  Lisle.  "  I  went  to  the 
cabin.  There  was  no  one  there.  There  had  been 
no  one  there  for  some  time." 

The  girl  looked  startled. 

"  Then  Lord  Harold  — " 

"  Lied  —  or  your  brother  has  gone  somewhere 
else.  The  dog  will  prove  that  one  way  or  another. 
My  plan  is  to  go  by  way  of  the  cabin  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  also  to  get  some  of  the  canned  goods  which 
I  saw  there.  We  will  not  take  all  of  it,  of  course, 
but  our  own  store  of  provisions  are  so  low  we  could 
not  make  the  mush,  which  is  now  over  a  hundred 
miles,  without  an  extra  stake.  I  tell  you  quite 


248  THE  TANG 

frankly  that  there  is  a  chance  we  will  not  be  able  to 
make  it.     But  it  is  the  only  thing  left  to  do." 

Barbara  considered  a  moment. 

"  I  suppose  it  is,"  she  agreed  finally. 

They  reached  the  cabin  an  hour  after  dark.  There 
was  no  fresh  trail  leading  to  the  door.  Once  in- 
side, however,  there  was  no  question  but  that  Steve 
had  been  there,  and  recently.  For  Silver  ran  franti- 
cally about  the  two  rooms,  barking  and  whining, 
sniffing  at  everything,  and  especially  at  a  red  rag 
which  hung  on  a  nail  near  the  sink.  The  rag  had 
evidently  served  for  the  purpose  of  a  dish  cloth,  al- 
though its  texture  was  anything  but  adapted  for  the 
purpose.  Lisle  examined  it  and  pronounced  it  of 
the  material  of  which  the  coats  of  the  Mounted  were 
made. 

"  He's  been  here,"  said  Lisle,  "  but  there  is  no 
way  of  telling  if  he  will  ever  come  again.  The  pro- 
visions are  very  scarce  —  only  a  few  canned  things 
—  and  it  would  be  foolish  to  think  of  waiting  on  the 
chance  of  his  returning.  We  had  better  stick  to  the 
original  plan.  We'll  bunk  here  to-night,  however." 

Barbara  did  not  reply,  but  gathered  up  one  of  the 
blankets  and  went  into  the  next  room,  closing  the 


THE  TANG  249 

door  behind  her  with  an  emphatic  slam,  and  bolting 
it  noisily.  Lisle  looked  after  her  for  a  moment  and 
then  he  buried  his  face  in  his  hands.  Long  into  the 
night  he  sat  there. 

At  dawn  he  knocked  gently  on  her  door.  She  re- 
plied at  once,  and  in  five  minutes  she  came  out  of 
the  room,  nodding  a  curt  good  morning. 

"  I  have  left  a  note,"  said  Lisle  as  they  were  ready 
to  start  a  half  hour  later,  "  in  case  your  brother 
comes  back.  I  have  told  him  that  you  were  here 
and  that  you  are  going  to  Ft.  Churchill.  If  he 
should  come  before  another  storm  he  would  find 
our  trail,  and  no  doubt  follow  us." 

Barbara's  eyes  narrowed. 

"  That  was  extremely  thoughtful  of  you,"  she 
said  evenly.  "I  see  you  have  my  interests  in  view 
—  as  usual! " 

A  flush  rose  to  Lisle's  face. 

"  You  may  do  as  you  like,"  he  said,  "  I  will  destroy 
it  if  you  say  so.  I  had  not  intended  it  as  a  lure." 

"  No !  Of  course  you  didn't !  Leave  it,  by  all 
means.  Naturally  you  knew  I  should  want  you 
to!" 

And  so  into  the  frigid  dawn  the  man  and  the 
woman  started  out  together  on  their  long  weary 


250  THE  TANG 

journey  across  the  snowfields.  And  the  bleakness 
of  the  world  about  them  was  nothing  compared  to 
the  sorrow  in  the  heart  of  the  man,  and  the  cold  as 
nothing  to  the  chill  in  the  heart  of  the  woman,  which 
was  reflected  mercilessly  in  her  manner. 

On  the  third  day  of  their  journey  there  came  a 
storm.  It  was  not  a  hard  storm,  compared  with 
some  of  the  previous  ones,  but  it  came  just  at  the 
time  when  the  travelers  were  in  an  open  space. 
And  coming  at  this  time  it  caused  the  world  about 
them  to  become  one  mass  of  grey-white  in  which 
there  was  no  definition  between  the  sky  and  what 
lay  beneath  it.  And  as  three  tiny  living  molecules 
in  a  churning,  infinitesimal  sea,  in  which  there  was 
neither  east  nor  west  nor  measurable  distance  nor 
time  of  day,  these  three  were  lost. 

For  three  days  they  wandered  —  in  circles.  The 
girl  would  have  waited  upon  the  snow  for  the  storm 
to  cease,  saying  that  then  they  could  distinguish  the 
east  from  the  west.  But  the  man  knew  that  there 
were  few  provisions  and  that  there  was  less  fuel  — 
and  inaction  meant  fuel, —  and  to  go  on  meant  the 
chance  of  coming  upon  something,  whether  it  be  a 


THE  TANG  251 

cabin,  a  landmark  that  should  tell  him  where  they 
were,  or  another  wayfarer. 

And  it  was  cold  —  very  cold.  At  the  end  of  the 
fourth  day  they  knew  that  the  cold  was  now  their 
greatest  enemy.  Hour  by  hour  it  had  crept  deeper 
into  their  blood,  until  even  the  fires  which  they  built 
more  often  seemed  to  have  little  affect. 

On  the  seventh  day  the  sun  came  out.  But  it 
seemed  far  away  and  appallingly  ineffective.  Their 
eyes  smarted  from  the  unaccustomed  brilliance  and 
they  wished  almost  that  it  would  go  in  again.  The 
thermometer  rose  only  five  degrees  during  the  day. 

On  the  ninth  day  their  fuel  was  gone.  There 
was  but  half  a  pound  of  beans,  a  few  dehydrated  po- 
tatoes, and  a  little  coffee.  There  was  no  landmark 
to  tell  them  where  they  were  — •  except  that  the  sun 
had  guided  them  east  again. 

For  two  more  days  and  nights  they  struggled  on, 
each  with  set  lips  and  haggard  eyes.  Lisle  groaned 
inwardly  as  he  looked  at  the  girl. 

She  scarcely  seemed  to  see  him,  seldom  spoke. 
She  accepted  his  proffered  assistance  at  times  when 
it  was  absolutely  necessary,  and  politely  refused  it 
when  it  was  not.  On  the  trail  he  mushed  ahead,  and 


252  THE  TANG 

the  girl  chose  to  follow  with  Silver  at  a  good  many 
yards'  distance.  Many  times  she  would  turn  and 
look  behind  her. 

When  Lisle  told  her  that  their  fuel  was  gone  she 
merely  nodded  her  head  iri  silent  acceptance  of  the 
inevitable.  And  when,  three  days  later,  they  ate  the 
last  mouthful  of  their  provisions,  she  made  no  com- 
ment. 

Lisle  shot  a  snowshoe  rabbit  and  a  ptarmigan. 
There  was  no  other  life  stirring.  When  he  offered 
the  raw  flesh  to  the  girl,  after  carefully  cleaning  it, 
she  accepted  it  and  began  to  eat  without  hesitation. 
She  seemed  to  do  everything  with  a  sort  of  numb, 
automation,  as  though  all  things  had  become  equal 
in  the  proportion  of  their  significance. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  the  sun  left  them  again, 
and  again  the  east  was  lost.  The  thermometer 
seemed  to  stand  still.  Lisle  shot  a  snowbird,  but 
it  had  little  meat  on  it. 

In  the  afternoon  a  great  drowsiness  began  to  take 
hold  of  the  girl.  Lisle  had  seen  the  droop  of  her 
eyelids,  and  he  looked  back  often  as  they  continued 
their  course.  It  was  a  zig-zag  course  now,  and 
twice  Lisle  insisted  that  Barbara  walk  beside  him  — 
but  she  refused. 


THE  TANG  253 

At  about  dusk  Lisle  stopped  and  waited  for  her. 
Her  eyes  were  strangely  expressionless,  and  there 
was  a  forward  lurch  to  each  step  that  she  took.  He 
held  out  his  hand  to  her  and  automatically  she  put 
hers  into  it,  without  looking  at  him. 

Then  slowly  her  eyes  began  to  close. 

Lisle  shook  her  arm. 

"  Barbara! "  he  cried,  and  his  voice  sounded  like 
some  strange  far-off  thing,  "  you  must  not !  You 
must  keep  awake !  Don't  you  know  that  if  you  go 
to  sleep  now  you  may  not  wake  again?  It's  trying 
to  get  me  too  —  and  if  it  should  get  both  of  us !  " 

But  the  girl  did  not  hear  him.  She  sank  down 
upon  the  snow,  a  dead  weight. 

The  man  knelt  beside  her,  shaking  her,  but  to  no 
avail.  Then  he  gathered  her  in  his  arms  and  swung 
her  across  his  shoulders.  As  the  darkness  came  on 
he  struggled  on  with  his  burden. 

The  night  was  clear  and  there  was  a  quarter-full 
moon.  It  had  never  seemed  so  cold  as  it  was  now. 
The  distant  boom  of  the  cracking  tree  trunks  in  the 
forests  and  the  metallic  sound  of  the  ironlike  crust 
over  which  he  trod  gave  further  evidence  of  its  in- 
tensity. Far  away  there  rose  the  wolf-cry  —  the 
hunting  cry  of  a  starving  pack. 


254  THE  TANG 

At  midnight  the  man  lowered  his  burden  and 
dropped  down  in  the  snow  beside  the  girl,  scanning 
her  face.  It  looked  unearthly  there  in  the  half 
moonlight.  It  was  pinched  and  drawn  and  utterly 
colorless.  And  as  he  looked  it  seemed  to  fade  far- 
ther and  farther  away. 

The  man  brushed  the  sleeve  of  his  coat  across  his 
eyes  as  though  to  brush  away  a  mist.  The  moon 
seemed  to  have  become  a  dim  far-off  star.  Some- 
thing moved  near  him  and  he  turned  as  one  in  a 
trance.  The  thing  was  standing  beside  the  girl, 
.very  close  to  her  face.  It  was  dark,  and  it  was 
gradually  becoming  smaller.  Dimly  he  remembered 
that  there  had  been  someone  with  them  —  something 
—  it  was  a  dog,  that  was  it,  a  tiny  little  furry  dog 
that  trotted  along  behind  the  girl  —  yes,  that  was 
it  —  and  now  it  was  licking  her  face  —  or  no,  per- 
haps it  was  but  a  shadow  —  a  shadow  that  the  sun 
had  made  —  the  sun  —  no,  there  had  never  been  a 
sun  —  he  had  dreamed  that  —  perhaps  he  was 
dreaming  now.  If  he  was,  he  must  awake,  because 
Barbara  was  asleep  —  and  he  must  keep  awake ! 
If  he  went  to  sleep  now,  they  would  die  —  here  to- 
gether on  the  snowfield !  Die  —  here  —  together  — 

Suddenly  he  seemed  to  hear  a  voice.     It  came 


THE  TANG  255 

from  very  far  away  —  from  his  memory,  in  fact. 
It  was  the  voice  of  Barbara,  and  she  was  saying,  "  I 
loved  you!  I  loved  you  as  I  had  always  believed  I 
should  some  day  love  some  man  —  some  man  who 
could  not  do  a  cowardly  thing — " 

"  I'm  awake,  Barbara! "  he  whispered,  "  I'm 
awake!  I  will  not  sleep,  dear!  A  cowardly  thing, 
sleep!  Warm,  pleasant,  sleep!  But  cowardly — " 

He  stopped  short.  High  upon  the  freezing  air 
rose  the  mournful  howl  of  a  dog! 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN 

Barbara  awoke  with  the  feeling  that  she  had  been 
asleep  for  a  long  time.  She  did  not  open  her  eyes 
at  once.  Somehow  she  felt  that  when  she  should 
open  them  she  would  feel  cold  again  —  and  it  was 
very  warm  now. 

Her  hand  felt  instinctively  for  Silver's  neck,  and 
she  realized  that  her  mitten  was  off.  It  was  strange 
that  her  fingers  were  not  cold.  Even  the  snow  was 
warm  —  and  queerly  enough  it  was  soft  —  and 
yielded  to  the  weight  of  her  hand.  She  must  still  be 
dreaming. 

Her  fingers  came  in  contact  with  Silver's  muzzle 
and  she  heard  the  dog  whine  softly,  and  then  she  felt 
the  lick  of  his  rough  tongue. 

Suddenly  she  remembered  Lisle.  Where  was  he? 
Had  he  gone  to  sleep,  too,  or  was  he  sitting  there 
beside  her,  waiting  for  her  to  wake?  He  had  said 
that  they  must  not  both  go  to  sleep  — 

With  a  sudden  fear  at  her  heart  she  opened  her 
256 


THE  TANG  257 

eyes  —  and  they  looked  straight  into  a  pair  that 
were  very  like  them.  For  a  moment  she  was  sure 
she  was  dreaming  —  and  then  with  a  cry  she 
stretched  out  her  arms  and  drew  down  the  head 
which  bent  above  her. 

"Steve!"  she  cried,  "Steve!" 

"Little  sister!" 

For  a  moment  neither  spoke.  The  girl  was  cry- 
ing softly,  while  the  man  stroked  her  hair,  and  mur- 
mured her  name. 

"Thank  God!"  he  whispered.  "You're  all 
right!" 

Slowly,  then,  the  realization  came  to  the  girl  that 
she  was  not  on  the  snowfield —  that  she  was  in  a 
room,  on  a  bunk,  and  that  there  was  a  fire  burning 
brightly  somewhere  near  her.  Again  she  remem- 
bered Lisle. 

"  Where  is  — " 

"  Over  there,"  her  brother  replied,  and  his  tone 
caused  her  to  turn  quickly  towards  the  bunk  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  room.  Lisle  lay  on  the  bunk. 
His  eyes  were  closed  and  his  arm  hung  limply  over 
the  edge. 

"  Steve!" 

"Yes,  little  sister!" 


258  THE  TANG 

"  Is  he  —  will  he  — " 

"  He  is  pretty  much  all  in,"  Steve  interrupted 
gravely. 

The  girl  closed  her  eyes. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  said  presently,  "  how  did  you  find 
—  us?" 

"  Silver,"  replied  Steve.  "  I  found  Lisle's  note 
at  the  cabin,  and  I  tried  to  follow  you  —  but  on  ac- 
count of  the  storm  I  lost  your  trail.  I  was  wander- 
ing about  looking  for  it  when  I  saw  the  dog  coming. 
He  was  following  me  —  had  found  my  trail  where 
it  had  crossed  yours.  He'd  evidently  gone  back 
from  the  place  where  Lisle  gave  up  —  for  help  I  sup- 
pose. When  he  found  me  he  started  back  to  you  at 
once.  I  got  there  just  about  in  time.  Lisle  had 
carried  you  several  miles  —  and  was  nearly  gone. 
Oh,  little  sister,  why  did  you  come?  " 

"  I  came  to  find  you,  Steve,  and  to  find  the  thing 
that  was  in  your  letter  —  happiness!  And  I  have 
found  you — "  her  voice  faltered. 

"But  not  — the  other?" 

There  was  the  slightest  pause  before  she  replied. 
Then  throwing  her  arms  about  his  neck  again,  she 
cried, 

"  Oh,  Steve  dear,  yes,  I  am  happy  —  so  very,  very 


THE  TANG  259 

happy  that  I  have  found  you !  "  Then  holding  him 
off  from  her  and  looking  up  into  his  face  she  asked, 

"  Steve  —  the  note  —  did  he  sign  it?  " 

"  Yes." 

"And  you  came  —  anyway?" 

"Of  course  I  came!  How  could  you  even  im- 
agine that  I  would  not  ?  " 

A  glimmer  of  hope  came  into  Barbara's  face. 

"  Tell  me,"  she  cried,  "  I  must  know  —  Steve,  is 
it  true  that  —  you  are  —  wanted?" 

The  man  drew  a  deep  breath. 

"  Yes,"  he  replied,  "  it  is  true." 

"  Oh,  Steve!  "  she  breathed,  but  her  arms  did  not 
relax. 

For  several  moments  there  was  silence  in  the 
room.  Then  Steve  gently  released  her  arms  from 
his  neck  and  took  her  hands  in  his. 

"  I'm  sorry  you  came,  little  sister,"  he  said 
gravely,  looking  into  the  firelight.  "  There  is  no 
happiness  for  you  here.  I  thought  I  had  found  it 
because  I  was  living  a  life  which  had  always  ap- 
pealed to  me.  But  I've  lost  it  now  —  and  I'll  never 
find  it  again.  And  what  is  worse  I've  killed  the 
chance  for  yours!  They'll  take  me,  now,  and 
you'll  go  back  —  back  with  the  memory  of  it  —  and 


26o  THE  TANG 

the  blot  —  oh,  Barbara,  Barbara !  "  The  man  was 
sobbing  now.  The  girl  endeavored  to  soothe  him, 
stroking  his  hair,  telling  him  that  she  was  not  going 
back,  ever  —  and  that  for  whatever  he  had  done, 
there  was  a  good  reason,  she  knew,  and  that  he  would 
never  be  convicted  —  never! 

Presently  Steve  got  control  of  himself. 

"  Little  girl,"  he  said,  "  when  you  are  stronger  I 
will  tell  you  all  about  it.  I  want  you  to  know.  In 
the  meantime  I  must  get  you  something  to  eat  — 
and  see  what  can  be  done  for  Lisle.  By  the  way, 
he's  —  he  calls  for  you  —  often." 

The  girl  turned  her  face  away  and  closed  her  eyes. 
Her  lips  set  in  a  hard  straight  line. 

"  Does  he?  "  she  replied  dully. 

It  was  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day  before 
Steve  told  Barbara  the  story  of  why  he  was  wanted 
by  the  Mounted  for  the  murder  of  Herbert  Roth. 
Lisle  still  lay  unconscious,  but  Barbara  had  improved 
considerably. 

"  It  happened  on  the  banks  of  a  lake  at  the  end 
of  the  Bonnet  Plume  River.  I  had  been  out  on  the 
trail  of  an  outlaw,  named  '  Robin  Hood  '  on  account 
of  his  habit  of  robbing  the  rich  and  never  the  poor, 


THE  TANG  261 

and  of  sending  his  booty  to  addresses  in  the  poor 
section  of  Chicago. 

"  It  was  just  dusk.  I  had  made  camp  earlier  than 
usual.  Shortly  after  I  had  lighted  my  fire  I  noticed 
another,  some  distance  behind  me,  and  I  decided  to 
investigate.  It  was  almost  dark  when  I  started  to- 
wards it.  When  I  had  come  to  within  several  hun- 
dred yards  of  it  I  heard  a  man's  voice  crying  out  in 
terror.  The  cry  was  closely  followed  by  two  shots. 
I  hurried  on.  I  was  on  foot.  When  I  had  gone  a 
little  further  I  saw  something  between  me  and  the 
other  firelight,  and  I  made  it  out  to  be  the  silhouette 
of  a  bear.  And  fleeing  before  it  was  that  of  a  man. 
I  ran  forward  at  top  speed,  whipped  out  my  gun, 
and  fired.  At  the  same  instant  the  man  turned  to 
dart  to  the  right,  so  as  to  avoid  running  into  his 
campfire.  The  bullet  missed  the  bear,  and  passed 
on  to  the  man.  And  at  the  same  instant  I  did, 
someone  else  shot  from  the  other  side!  The  man 
threw  up  his  hands  and  fell  to  the  ground.  There 
came  several  more  shots  and  one  tore  through  the 
bear's  ear  and  hit  me  in  the  shoulder.  By  that  time 
I  had  reached  the  fire  and  was  about  to  lean  over  the 
man  when  another  shot  came  out  of  the  darkness 
and  got  me  in  the  breast.  The  only  thing  I  remem- 


262  THE  TAN'G 

her  after  that  was  seeing  the  bear  running  away  in 
the  direction  of  a  clump  of  bushes  on  the  edge  of  the 
stream. 

"  When  I  came  to  I  was  lying  in  the  stream  with 
my  head  on  a  rock  that  projected  above  the  water, 
I  had  been  thrown  there,  apparently.  The  ice  was 
thin  and  I'd  gone  through.  My  coat  was  gone.  I 
tried  to  rise  but  could  not.  Just  then  a  man  parted 
the  bushes  on  the  opposite  shore,  and  seeing  me, 
waded  in  and  pulled  me  out.  I  went  off  again,  and 
when  I  came  to  the  next  time  I  was  lying  beside  a 
campfire  and  the  man  who  pulled  me  out  of  the 
stream  was  binding  up  my  wounds.  I  recognized 
him  then. 

"  '  Hello,  "  Robin  Hood,"  I  said.  '  Right,  am  I 
not?' 

" '  None  of  your  business/  he  replied. 

"  '  Oh,  yes  it  is,'  said  I,  '  almost  all  of  my  busi- 
ness, in  fact.' 

"  '  You  ain't  in  no  condition  to  carry  out  your 
business/  he  answered,  '  an'  when  you  are  I'll  be  so 
far  away  you  won't  be  able  to.  I'll  give  you  a  good 
start,  but  I'm  not  nursin'  you  clear  through  to  health 
an'  prosperity ! ' 

"  '  Who  shot  me  ?  '  I  inquired. 


THE  TANG  263 

" '  Don't  know.  I  didn't.  Who  shot  the  other 
fellow?' 

"  '  Don't  know,'  I  said. 

"  The  man  laughed.  '  Well,  I'd  like  to  see  you 
prove  it ! '  he  said. 

"  '  Is  he  dead?  '  I  asked,  the  full  import  of  what 
the  man  had  inferred  breaking  upon  me. 

"  '  Dead  he  is,'  replied  the  outlaw,  '  with  a  bullet 
in  his  heart  an'  another  in  his  arm.' 

"  '  Any  clues  as  to  who  he  is  ?  '  I  asked. 

"  '  Yep.     A  cardcase,  entitled  Herbert  Roth.' 

"  You  can  imagine  the  affect  the  name  had  upon 
me.  Herbert  Roth  had  sworn  his  innocence  to  the 
last.  His  term  was  up  —  he  had  come  north  —  for 
what  purpose  I  could  only  guess.  He  was  found 
dead  with  my  bullet  in  his  heart,  and  there  was  only 
one  conclusion  to  be  drawn." 

Barbara  was  listening  intently. 

"  But,  Steve,"  she  cried,  "  why  couldn't  you  be 
cleared  on  'self-defence'?  If  it  was  discovered 
that  Roth  was  after  you  for  vengeance,  which  he 
probably  was?  And  there  were  the  bullets  in  your 
breast  and  shoulder  to  prove  that  you  had  been 
shot!" 

Steve  shook  his  head. 


264  THE  TANG 

"If  Roth's  purpose  was  vengeance  he  would  not 
likely  have  confided  in  anyone.  Besides,  the  bullets 
which  I  had  in  me  were  not  Roth's  bullets ! " 

"Were  they  Robin  Hood's?'' 

"  No.  They  belonged  to  a  gun  of  German  make 
—  a  Liiger." 

"  Did  you  find  any  clue  as  to  who  did  fire  them?  " 

"  Nothing  conclusive.  Robin  Hood  found  snow- 
shoe  tracks,  and  beyond  them  the  tracks  of  a  team 
and  driver.  They  followed  my  trail  from  some 
distance  back  and  had  apparently  been  attracted, 
as  I  had  been,  to  investigate  Roth's  campfire. 
After  the  shooting  my  assailant  had  stolen  my 
coat,  and  for  some  unexplainable  reason  had  taken 
great  care  to  go  over  the  bear's  tracks  in  the  snow 
and  thoroughly  obliterate  them.  It  appeared  like  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  clinch  the  evidence  of  the  shoot- 
ing of  Roth  against  me,  and  to  remove  any  chance 
of  my  proving  that  I  had  done  it  to  save  the  man 
from  the  attack  of  the  bear. 

"  To  go  on,  while  Robin  Hood  tended  to  me,  about 
a  mile  to  the  north  of  the  scene,  someone  found  the 
body  of  Roth  and  took  it  toward  Dawson  by  dog- 
team.  Robin  had  refused  to  return  and  bury  the 


THE  TANG  265 

body,  being  afraid  to  take  the  chance  of  being 
caught. 

"  Two  days  later  Robin  prepared  to  move  on. 
When  he  was  all  ready  to  go  he  sat  down  beside  me 
and  said, 

" '  Don't  know  whether  you've  given  it  much 
thought,  or  not,  but  somehow  I  reckon  mebbe  you 
have.  An'  if  you  have  you've  come  to  the  same 
conclusion  as  me,  which  is  that  you're  just  about  as 
much  an  outlaw  as  I  am,  about  now.  I  ain't  got  a 
murder  to  my  credit  so  far,  and  so  help  me  I  hope  I 
never  have.  I  ain't  holdin'  it  against  you,  but  the 
courts  would.  I'm  leavin'  you  now.  Not  because 
I'm  afraid  of  you,  because  I  ain't,  and  not  because 
I  want  to,  because  I  don't.  I  like  you  an'  it's  lone- 
some up  here.  I  ain't  hankerin'  after  the  company 
of  most  I  come  across  up  here.  That  there's  meant 
for  a  partin'  compliment  —  mebbe.  It  wouldn't  be 
healthy  for  me  here  if  our  mysterious  friend  of  the 
Liiger  gun  should  come  this  way  again.' 

"  I  slowly  gathered  what  he  was  getting  at.  I 
didn't  want  him  to  leave  me.  I  liked  him.  He 
wasn't  well  educated,  by  schooling,  but  he'd  spent 
a  deal  of  time  learning  things  about  wildflowers, 


266  THE  TANG 

and  birds  and  the  animals  of  the  region.  I  was 
sick,  and  weak.  And  I  was  wanted  for  murder.  I 
thought  of  the  years  behind  the  bars.  When  Robin 
Hood  rose  to  go  I  said, 

"  '  If  you'll  wait  'til  I'm  able,  I'll  go  with  you.' 

"  '  I  was  hopin'  you'd  figure  that  way,'  was  all  he 
said,  as  he  laid  down  his  pack. 

"  We  left  the  spot  in  a  week.  He  took  me  to  this 
cabin  after  we'd  rambled  along  all  through  the  win- 
ter and  the  next  summer.  The  oppression  of  the 
thought  of  the  murder  slowly  left  me,  and  I  was 
happy !  I  couldn't  help  but  be,  even  in  spite  of  what 
had  happened.  You  know  how  I  always  wished 
for  some  wild,  free  life  without  any  rules  or  regu- 
lations. As  much  as  I  liked  the  life  with  the 
Mounted  there  was  always  that  feeling  of  being  un- 
der the  orders  of  someone  else  that  took  away  its 
full  enjoyment.  I  can't  help  it.  It  seems  to  be  in 
my  blood.  I  loved  the  life  of  an  outlaw! " 

As  he  finished  Barbara  looked  up  into  the  wistful 
blue  eyes,  and  at  the  sensitive  mouth  that  was  not 
quite  firm  enough,  and  suddenly  she  remembered  the 
words  of  Lord  Harold: 

"  He  didn't  have  your  courage,  I  think  —  but  he 
was  white ! " 


THE  TANG  267 

She  reached  out  her  hand  to  him. 

"  Steve,"  she  said  softly,  and  there  was  a  note  of 
excitement  in  her  voice,  "  I  understand.  And  I 
think  I  can  tell  you  several  things  that  will  interest 
you !  "  And  she  proceeded  to  tell  him  of  her  ex- 
periences with  the  one-eared  bear,  with  Lord  Harold 
—  of  the  finding  of  the  cardcase  —  the  "  argument 
with  a  gentleman  on  this  exact  location  "  of  which 
Lord  Harold  had  spoken  —  and  finally  of  the  out- 
law's words  as  he  lay  dying.  She  told  him  also  of 
the  arrest  of  Robin  Hood  in  Ft.  Wrigley,  and  of 
the  strange  connection  which  Clinton  of  the 
Mounted  seemed  to  have  with  the  affair. 

Steve  listened  with  absorbed  interest.  When  she 
told  of  the  arrest  of  his  outlaw  partner  he  uttered 
an  exclamation  and  the  expression  in  his  eyes  spoke 
the  sincerity  of  his  friendship  for  the  man  who 
robbed  the  rich  to  give  to  the  poor. 

"  Ft.  Wrigley !  "  he  exclaimed  when  Barbara  had 
paused.  "  He  must  have  gone  there  to  mail  the 
package !  " 

"  Yes,"  said  Barbara,  "  he  did.  He  had  it  with 
him  when  he  entered  the  store.  And  strangely 
enough,  too,  he  seemed  curiously  interested  in  me. 
He  seemed  to  want  to  say  something  to  me.  I  have 


268  .  THE  TANG 

thought  about  it  often.  Do  you  suppose  it  was  be- 
cause of  our  resemblance?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  Steve,  "  I  think  so,  probably.  I 
had  told  him  about  you.  And  the  package  —  did 
you  see  the  address  ?  " 

"  No,"  said  Barbara. 

"If  only  you  had!  "  exclaimed  her  brother,  "  for 
it  was  addressed  to  you !  I  had  sent  you  a  black  fox 
skin.  Then  you  might  have  been  spared  this  ter- 
rible experience,  for  Robin  would  have  told  you  — 
and  stopped  you  from  coming  further." 

"  Indeed  he  would  not  have  stopped  me !  "  cried 
the  girl.  "  I  should  have  come  just  the  same!  Oh, 
Steve,  dear,  I  am  so  glad  that  I  have  found  you! 
And  I  shall  never  let  you  go  —  never!  " 

"  Yes,  little  sister,"  said  Steve,  his  voice  husky 
with  emotion,  "  you  will.  You'll  have  to.  I'll  have 
to  go  back  —  with  Lisle !  " 

Barbara  glanced  quickly  at  the  man  on  the  op- 
posite bunk.  Then  reaching  up  and  drawing  her 
brother  down  to  her  she  whispered, 

"  You  shall  never  go  with  him !  He  is  unable  to 
stop  you  now,  and  you  must  escape !  " 

Steve  smiled  sadly. 


THE  TANG  269 

"  And  you?  "  he  asked. 

"  Will  go  -with  you!  " 

The  man  drew  up  sharply. 

"  Nonsense,  Barbara,  please  do  not  talk  like  that ! 
This  is  no  country  for  a  woman.  The  places  in 
which  I  should  be  obliged  to  hide  now,  if  I  should 
escape,  would  be  impossible  for  you.  One  never 
knows,  up  here,  when  food  will  be  found  again,  and 
there  are  many  dangers.  Don't  speak  of  it  again." 

"  Steve,"  insisted  the  girl,  "  why  can't  you  under- 
stand that  I  should  love  that  life  as  much  as  you  love 
it  —  that  I  have  the  '  tang  '  in  my  blood,  too  —  you 
remember,  that's  what  Grandfather  Barrows  called 
it — 'the  tang  of  the  north! '  And  oh,  Steve,  I've 
felt  the  '  tang,'  and  I've  been  through  the  dangers 
that  men  go  through  because  they  answer  the  call  of 
it,  and  I've  survived  them !  And  I  don't  want  to  go 
back  —  I'd  never  be  happy  there  —  unless  you  were 
with  me!  And  I  went  through  those  dangers  to 
find  you,  Steve,  and  now  that  I  have  found  you,  you 
would  send  me  back!  Oh,  Steve,  dear,  you  cannot 
do  that!" 

"  Barbara,  when  you  started  to  search  for  me  you 
did  not  know  that  I  was  '  wanted.'  That  changes 


270  THE  TANG 

everything,  and  I'm  surprised  that  your  common 
sense  does  not  tell  you  how  impossible  is  the  thing 
which  you  suggest!  It  is  impossible!  Utterly!" 

"  That's  what  Commissioner  McLean  told  me  at 
Dawson!  And  I  have  proven  that  it  wasn't!  Be- 
sides, if  common  sense  out-weighed  all  our  desires 
you  would  not  have  gone  with  Robin  Hood  when 
you  did !  You  would  have  gone  back  —  and  tried 
to  prove  that  you  were  innocent ! " 

"  I  am  not  innocent.  I  killed  a  man.  And  in 
the  sight  of  the  Law  I  am  guilty,  although  I  believe 
that  in  the  sight  of  God  it  is  the  motive  which 
counts." 

"  Nevertheless  you  chose  the  life  of  an  outlaw 
because  you  thought  you  should  love  it.  And  you 
did !  And  I  should  love  it  too,  if  it  were  with  you !  '* 

"  It  is  no  use,  Barbara.  I  would  not  hear  of  it. 
I  must  go  back.  We  must  go  back  —  together  — 
with  him ! " 

"  It  seems  quite  like  old  times !  "  replied  the  girl, 
"  that  we  should  disagree,  and  it  will  be  quite  like 
old  times  that  I  shall  finally  get  my  way !  " 

"  We  shall  see.  At  any  rate  we  could  not  leave 
Lisle  until  he  is  able  to  shift  for  himself  —  and  that 
does  not  promise  to  be  soon." 


THE  TANG  271 

"  No,"  replied  the  girl  slowly,  a  strange  note 
creeping  into  her  voice,  "  we  cannot  leave  him  — 
yet!" 

When  Lisle  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  realize 
the  turn  events  had  taken,  he  was  sick  at  heart. 
For  he  knew  that  he  owed  his  life  to  this  man  whom 
he  must  now  arrest  for  murder  —  this  man  whose 
sister  he  loved  more  than  anything  in  the  world. 
He  would  be  able  to  travel  in  a  few  days.  And  then 
would  begin  that  terrible  journey.  If  they  had 
only  left  him  out  there  on  the  snowfield ! 

And  so,  a  few  evenings  later,  after  Barbara  had 
retired  for  the  night,  Lisle  called  Steve  to  him. 

"  I  suppose  you  know,"  he  began,  going  at  once 
to  the  point,  "  that  I  am  obliged  fo  arrest  you  —  to 
take  you  back  on  the  charge  of  murder." 

"  I  know." 

"  I  say  '  obliged  '  because  it's  going  to  be  the  hard- 
est thing  I  ever  did  in  my  life." 

There  was  a  slight  pause  before  Steve  answered, 
then  he  said  slowly, 

"  Am  I  right  in  presuming  that  there  is  another 
reason  than  that  you  practically  owe  your  life  to 
me?" 

Lisle  was  not  expecting  the  direct  question. 


2/2  THE  TANG 

His  glance  dropped  to  the  table  before  which  they 
stood. 

"  Possibly  you  are,"  he  replied  slowly,  "  but  that 
is  neither  here  nor  there  —  now." 

For  a  moment  neither  spoke.  Then  Lisle  looked 
up  again  and  asked  suddenly, 

"Did  you  kill  Roth?" 

It  was  Steve's  turn  to  look  away.  For  him,  too, 
the  direct  question  had  been  unexpected. 

"  I  suppose  so,"  he  replied.  "  In  any  case,  I  can- 
not prove  that  I  didn't.  I  will  tell  you  the  story  of 
the  shooting." 

"  Go  on."     They  seated  themselves. 

When  Steve  had  finished,  Lisle  sat  silent,  think- 
ing. He  was  piecing  things  together  as  Barbara 
had  done.  Finally  he  said, 

"  It  looks  bad.     You'll  have  to  go  back." 

"  I  expected  to,"  Steve  replied. 

"  I'm  fit  for  travel  now.  We'll  start  to-morrow." 
Then  rising,  he  added,  "  In  the  meantime  I  must 
formally  arrest  you,  in  the  name  of — " 

"  If  you  ever  finish  that  sentence,  I'll  kill  you! " 

The  voice  was  Barbara's,  low  pitched  and  in- 
tense. She  had  entered  the  room  unobserved.  She 
stood  now  with  her  back  against  the  door  of  her 


THE  TANG  273 

room,  a  coat  thrown  over  her  night  dress,  her  lovely 
hair  tumbling  about  her  shoulders.  Her  hand  held 
her  revolver  and  its  muzzle  was  just  three  feet  from 
Lisle's  heart. 

No  one  would  have  guessed  that  she  had  ever 
loved  the  man  at  whom  her  eyes  were  levelled.  For 
a  moment  the  three  stood  as  though  turned  to  stone, 
and  then  the  girl  spoke  again,  her  voice  low  and 
strange  with  suppressed  emotion. 

"  I've  been  waiting  for  this !  For  the  moment 
when  you  should  claim  for  yours  the  man  you  did 
not  capture !  " 

There  was  a  pause  as  the  two  men  realized  the 
meaning  of  her  words,  and  then  she  went  on,  slowly, 
her  steady  gaze  never  for  an  instant  leaving  Lisle's 
face. 

"  The  man  who  sent  you  after  Steve  sent  me ! 
My  outfit  was  supplied  by  the  Mounted!  It  was  I 
who  got  the  information  from  Lord  Harold  as  to 
where  to  find  my  brother  —  and  it  was  my  dog  that 
found  him!  Therefore  he  is  my  prisoner  —  and  I 
choose  to  set  him  free ! 

"  His  pack  is  ready.  It  is  outside  the  door. 
He's  going  back  to  the  mountains  —  back  to  free- 
dom • —  and  when  he  has  forgotten,  happiness !  " 


274  THE  TANG 

"  Barbara ! "  It  was  Steve's  voice,  imploring. 
"  For  God's  sake  try  to  understand  that  I  can't  get 
away  now  even  if  I  would!  Lisle  would  come  after 
me  again !  " 

"  No  doubt !  But  not  until  you  are  far  away  — 
and  safe  —  for  I  am  going  to  hold  him  here  until 
you  are !  " 

"And  you,  little  sister?" 

"  You  refused  to  escape  with  me,  so  you'll  have  to 
go  without  me.  I'm  going  on.  And  wherever  I 
go  from  here  I  shall  be  happy  because  I  shall  know 
that  you  are  not  behind  bars  for  a  crime  which,  by 
all  that  is  fair  in  the  sight  of  God,  you  did  not  com- 
mit!" 

A  flush  had  mounted  to  Lisle's  face. 

"  It  will  do  you  no  good  to  perpetrate  your  broth- 
er's escape,"  he  said.  "If  you  are  successful  now 
it  will  only  mean  the  postponement  of  his  capture. 
My  duty  is  to  take  him  back  —  and  that's  what  I'm 
going  to  do !  " 

"  Your  duty !     A  worthy  duty,  indeed,  that  can- 
not attain  its  ends  without  employing  such  means  as 
you  have  used !     A  worthy  oath  for  which  to  live  — 
and  for  which  to  die!     If  it  is  to  such  that  men 
here  who  are  considered  good  consecrate  their  honor 


THE  TANG  275 

and  their  lives,  then  I  am  indeed  glad  that  I  am 
going  back  —  back  where  the  gold  in  the  hearts  of 
men  are  covered  with  the  gilt  of  the  superficial  lives 
they  lead  —  but  who,  when  the  time  of  the  testing 
comes,  prove  of  what  metal  they  are  made  —  as 
.Danny  Blake  proved  his!  " 

"  The  law  must  be  fulfilled!  " 

"The  law!  Whose  law!  The  law  of  men,  sel- 
dom just,  and  never  merciful  —  which  makes  men 
suffer  when  they  have  done  no  wrong  —  and  robs 
them  of  their  birthright  —  freedom !  Damn  the 
law! " 

For  minutes  the  two  men  stared  at  the  girl,  speech- 
less. Was  this  the  Barbara  they  had  known  —  the 
cool-eyed  girl  with  the  gentle  voice?  Only  Steve 
had  ever  seen  eyes  just  like  that  before.  They  were 
the  eyes  of  Grandfather  Barrows,  from  whom  they 
had  received  their  fighting  blood ! 

In  those  few  moments  Steve  realized  that  the  girl 
had  won.  That  the  blood  of  the  conqueror  was 
stronger  in  her  than  it  was  in  him.  And  this  blood 
was  roused  to  back  him  in  a  fight  for  freedom  —  the 
doors  were  open  —  and  all  he  had  to  do  was  to  walk 


276  THE  TANG 

through  and  try  once  more  to  lose  himself  in  the 
mountains  which  he  loved. 

If  he  failed  to  go  —  if  he  returned  with  Lisle  and 
was  put  into  prison,  Barbara  would  be  no  happier  — 
no  less  disgraced.  And  perhaps  Lisle  would  not 
find  him  again  1  He  had  eluded  capture  so  far,  in 
fact  it  was  of  his  own  free  will  that  he  had  walked 
into  it  now!  Barbara  was  speaking  again,  com- 
manding him  in  that  strange  compelling  voice,  to 
go! 

For  another  minute  he  hesitated.  Then  with  his 
eyes  on  his  sister's  face,  he  moved  toward  the  door. 

"  Good-by,  Steve ! "  The  girl's  voice  was  un- 
steady, but  it  betrayed  no  signs  of  the  weakening  of 
her  purpose. 

"  Good-by  —  little  —  sister !  "  The  last  word 
ended  in  a  sob.  The  next  instant  the  door  closed 
behind  him. 

For  twelve  hours  Barbara  held  Lisle  at  the  point 
of  her  gun.  After  Steve  had  left  she  had  com- 
manded the  officer  to  sit  in  one  of  the  chairs,  and 
then  slowly  backed  into  the  other,  resting  her  elbow 
on  the  edge  of  the  table.  The  fire  burned  low  and 
the  room  grew  chilly,  and  then  cold. 


THE  TANG  277 

Lisle  sat  looking  into  the  fire,  his  eyes  half  closed. 
His  face  was  masklike,  but  there  was  an  alertness 
about  his  attitude  which  was  not  lost  on  Barbara. 
The  small  hand  held  the  gun  steady,  though  it  ached 
cruelly  from  the  strain,  and  her  eyes  burned  from 
the  constant  effort  to  keep  them  open.  Neither 
spoke. 

It  was  broad  daylight  when  Barbara  dropped  the 
gun  on  the  table  and  slid  forward  with  her  head  on 
her  arms.  It  seemed  as  though  she  could  move  no 
further.  Lisle  got  up  and  without  a  word  prepared 
to  build  the  fire.  He  made  coffee  and  flapjacks,  and 
set  the  table  on  the  opposite  side  from  where  Bar- 
bara sat.  When  the  meal  was  ready  he  called 
her. 

She  had  not  gone  to  sleep,  but  she  did  not  move. 
Lisle  shook  her  gently  by  the  shoulder. 

"  Come,"  he  said,  "  you  must  eat.  You  are 
thoroughly  exhausted." 

The  girl  raised  her  head  wearily  and  brushed  back 
the  hair  from  her  eyes.  Her  lids  were  heavy. 

"  When  are  you  going?  "  she  asked  dully. 

"  When  you've  had  some  rest.  You  can't  go  until 
you  have  had." 

"I?" 


278  THE  TANG 

"  Certainly.  Do  you  suppose  I'm  going  to  leave 
you  here  alone?  " 

There  was  a  new  note  in  his  voice.  It  was 
brusque,  almost  hard,  and  entirely  impersonal.  Bar- 
bara looked  at  him  quickly.  This  was  a  different 
Lisle  than  she  had  known ! 

"  You  are  going  with  me  —  to  the  Fort  ?  "  she 
asked. 

"  Of  course." 

"And  then?" 

"  You  may  take  care  of  yourself.  You  seem 
quite  capable  of  doing  so."  Somehow  the  words 
did  not  convey  a  compliment. 

"And  you—" 

"  I  am  going  after  your  brother.  I  want  you  to 
eat  something,  now,  and  rest  for  hours.  Then  we 
will  start.  Come."  He  held  a  chair  for  her. 

"And  if  I  do  not  wish  to?" 

"  You  will  do  so  anyway.  You've  had  your  way 
quite  long  enough.  I'm  going  to  have  mine  for  a 
while." 

The  girl  knew  that  she  was  in  need  of  food,  and 
rest.  But  Lisle's  attitude  aroused  the  last  spark  of 
spirit  which  she  possessed. 


THE  TANG  279 

"  And  how  do  you  propose  to  arrange  that?  "  she 
asked. 

Without  a  word  Lisle  strode  forward,  and  before 
she  was  aware  of  his  intention  he  had  picked  her  up, 
chair  and  all,  and  deposited  her  in  front  of  the  place 
at  the  table  which  he  had  laid  for  her. 

As  he  pushed  the  chair  into  place  a  sound  from 
outside  the  cabin  arrested  their  attention.  They 
listened,  and  it  came  again.  From  somewhere 
across  the  clearing  a  man's  voice  was  calling, 

"Hello-o!     Hello-o!" 

Lisle  opened  the  door  and  went  out.  The  call 
came  again,  nearer. 

"  Hello !  "  Lisle  answered,  using  his  hands  for  a 
megaphone. 

Two  men  came  out  of  the  brush  beyond  the  clear- 
ing, and  on  toward  the  cabin.  They  were  not  young 
men,  and  they  bent  low  under  the  weight  of  their 
packs.  The  one  was  short  and  inclined  to  flesh,  and 
he  puffed  with  each  step.  The  other  was  angular 
and  tall,  with  a  straggly  grey  beard  which  partially 
hid  his  weather-beaten  face,  which  wore  a  very  gen- 
erous grin.  It  was  at  this  one  that  Lisle  stared  as 
though  scarce  believing  his  eyes. 


280  THE  TANG 

"Brewster!" 

"By  all  the  blasted  mountains  if  it  ain't!"  ex- 
claimed the  angular  one  boisterously,  striding  for- 
ward and  seizing  Lisle's  hand  in  a  vice-like  grip. 

"  For  God's  sake  where  did  you  come  from  ?  " 

"  Same  place  you  did.  Alaska.  Only  I  was 
some  late  an'  you  got  a  couple  o'  years'  start  o' 
me." 

"Couldn't  stay  away,  eh?" 

"  You  guessed  it !  No  more'n  any  old  fire-horse, 
I  couldn't.  Have  to  have  one  more  grand  an'  glori- 
ous freezin'  mush  before  I  travels  down  my  last 
trail.  An',  says  I,  there  ain't  no  better  trail  can  be 
found  for  a  last  one  than  in  the  land  of  the  Yukon !  " 

Then  turning  to  his  companion,  he  said, 

"  This  here's  Father  Corriveau.  Him  and  me 
used  to  talk  over  the  hereafter  together  when  I  was 
forgettin'  my  past.  We've  both  changed  some  since 
then,  but  we  still  agree  that  the  best  kind  of  a  pres- 
ent a  man  can  have  is  right  up  here  in  the  mountains 
with  nothin'  but  a  gun  an'  a  hopeful  bosom!  " 

Lisle  shook  the  priest's  hand  and  then  turned  to 
open  the  door  of  the  cabin.  As  he  did  so,  Brewster 
asked, 

"Is  the  — lady  — here?" 


THE  TANG  281 

Lisle  showed  his  surprise. 
"  How  did  you  know  ?  "  he  asked. 
Brewster  grinned  mysteriously. 
"  I  ain't  been  followin'  you  all  for  nigh  ten  months 
for  nothin' !  "  he  said. 


CHAPTER  TWELVE 

"  Well  ?  "  said  Lisle  as  the  three  men  drew  back 
their  chairs  after  a  hearty  breakfast. 

"  Now,  you  old  snow-rover,  tell  me  why  you  have 
been  following  me  about  for  nine  months  ?  " 

The  ever-ready  grin  spread  over  the  old  man's 
face. 

"  There's  two  reasons,"  he  replied.  "  One's  the 
one  I  left  Alaska  with,  an'  the  other's  the  one  I 
picked  up  in  Dawson." 

"  Dawson  ?  You've  been  following  me  from 
Dawson  ?  " 

"  Just  that,  young  fellow,  an'  a  pretty  chase  you've 
led  me!  I  lost  you  as  many  as  five  or  six  times." 

"  Serves  you  right.  But  now  you  have  me,  what 
are  you  going  to  do  with  me?  " 

The  old  man  did  not  reply,  but  rose  and  crossed 
to  where  his  coat  hung  by  the  door.  He  fumbled 
about  in  the  pockets  and  then,  drawing  out  a  long 
business  envelope,  he  came  back  and  handed  it  sol- 
emnly to  the  young  officer. 

282 


THE  TANG  283 

"  If  you'd  'ave  got  this  about  eight  months  ago," 
he  said,  "  it'd  saved  you  a  hell  of  a  lot  o'  trouble!  " 

Lisle  glanced  at  the  seal  on  the  envelope  and  then 
broke  it  and  drew  out  the  contents.  It  was  one 
sheet  of  paper  with  the  letter-head  of  the  Mounted. 
It  was  addressed  to  Lisle,  dated  June  2nd,  and  it 
contained  but  a  few  words. 

"  Bullet  in  Roth's  heart  Liiger.  Barrows  cleared. 
Tell  his  sister  and  continue  search  together.  Brew- 
ster  will  make  excellent  guide  —  and  chaperon. 

"  MCLEAN." 

Lisle  folded  the  letter  and  put  it  back  in  the  en- 
velope. His  face  was  serious,  but  there  was  a  note 
of  relief  in  his  voice  as  he  said, 

"  Miss  Barrows  must  see  this  at  once." 

He  crossed  to  her  door  and  knocked  softly.  A 
very  faint  voice  replied  from  within. 

"Well?" 

"  I  have  something  here  which  you  will  wish  to  see 
at  once,"  called  Lisle.  "  Shall  I  put  it  under  the 
door?" 

There  was  no  reply,  but  in  a  few  seconds  the  door 
was  opened  and  Barbara  stood  on  the  threshold. 
She  was  fully  dressed  and  one  glance  at  the  room 


284  THE  TANG 

assured  Lisle  that  she  had  been  preparing  for  the 
journey.  Lisle  introduced  her  to  the  two  men.  At 
the  mention  of  Father  Corriveau's  name  she  started 
a  little  and  looked  at  him  searchingly,  then  turned 
her  attention  to  the  envelope  which  Lisle  held  out  to 
her. 

"  Brewster  brought  this,"  explained  Lisle. 

She  ignored  the  chair  which  Lisle  pulled  out,  and 
opened  the  letter.  For  a  full  minute  she  stared  at 
the  words  without  a  change  of  expression.  Then  to 
the  amazement  of  the  three  men  she  turned  the  color 
of  ashes  and  crumpled  up  upon  the  floor. 

It  was  characteristic  of  a  girl  of  Barbara's  temper- 
ament that  she  should  go  bravely  through  experiences 
and  dangers  which  would  have  caused  the  majority 
of  women  to  faint,  and  show  her  first  signs  of  weak- 
ness when  the  wonderful  news  of  her  brother's  ex- 
oneration was  brought  to  her.  The  courage  which 
had  lived  in  her  for  so  long  was  no  longer  needed, 
and  her  tired  spirit  had  suddenly  relaxed  and  de- 
manded the  rest  which  was  its  due.  For  several  days 
Barbara  lay  upon  her  bunk  scarcely  moving,  while 
the  life  of  her  spirit  slowly  returned. 

During   this  time   the   new  problem   which  had 


THE  TANG  285 

opened  up  for  them  was  not  discussed.  There  was 
no  question  in  the  minds  of  either  the  girl  or  Lisle 
but  that  they  would  now  continue  the  search  for 
Steve  with  renewed  vigor.  And  as  McLean  had 
written,  Brewster,  veteran  of  the  snows,  would  make 
an  excellent  guide.  But  the  shortage  of  provisions 
and  fuel  was  the  thing  now  to  be  considered.  The 
stores  which  they  had  found  in  the  cabin  were  in- 
sufficient for  any  extensive  journey,  and  Brewster 
and  Father  Corriveau  had  with  them  only  what  they 
would  need. 

Lisle  had  discussed  the  affair  of  the  search  for 
Steve  to  some  extent  with  Brewster,  after  discover- 
ing that  McLean  had  taken  him  into  his  confidence. 
He  told  him  the  most  important  phases  of  their  past 
experiences,  and  learned  that  McLean  had  wired  him 
at  Ft.  Simpson,  thinking  that  he  would  go  there  in- 
stead of  Ft.  Wrigley. 

Father  Corriveau  had  sat  silent  during  these  talks 
between  the  two  men,  apparently  either  uninterested 
or  by  way  of  effacing  himself  in  view  of  being  an 
outsider.  But  one  evening  when  the  name  of  Clin- 
ton of  the  Mounted  was  mentioned  Father  Corriveau 
suddenly  sat  up  in  his  chair  and  exclaimed, 

"  Clinton !     Why,  that  must  be  the  man  — " 


286  THE  TANG 

"  You  know  of  him  ?  "  asked  Lisle  as  the  priest 
paused. 

Father  Corriveau  considered  a  moment.  Then  he 
said, 

"  Yes,  I  am  sure,  that  was  the  man.  He  said  he 
belonged  to  the  Mounted." 

The  two  men  waited  with  interest  for  him  to  go 
on. 

"  It  was  about  a  week  before  I  met  Brewster  here. 
I  was  up  yonder  in  Lost  Valley  in  a  cabin  which  be- 
longed to  the  outlaw  who  has  figured  so  much  in 
your  search  for  Barrows  —  Lord  Harold.  He 
built  the  cabin  and  called  it  Hope  Castle.  It  was 
wonderfully  built,  and  merited  its  name  by  reason 
of  its  position,  which  was  on  the  crest  of  a  spruce 
covered  cliff  which  overlooked  the  entire  surround- 
ing country,  and  also  because  of  the  effect  of  its  six 
chimneys. 

"  I  have  made  no  distinction  between  men  since  I 
forsook  the  priesthood  for  the  mountain  life.  It  is 
hard  to  draw  a  line  between  a  good  and  a  bad  man. 
Lord  Harold  was  bad  —  and  yet  —  there  were 
times  —  but  that  is  neither  here  nor  there,  now.  It 
is  enough  that  I  met  him  one  day  in  the  hills,  and  as 
with  all  men,  I  made  friends  with  him  and  have 


THE  TANG  287 

since  many  times  shared  the  hospitality  of  his  cabin. 

"  Well,  as  I  was  saying,  one  day  about  a  week  be- 
fore I  left  the  cabin  for  another  venture  into  the 
hills,  I  looked  down  from  my  lofty  veranda  and 
saw  a  man  coming  across  the  snowfield.  I  got  the 
glasses  which  Lord  Harold  always  kept  on  hand,  and 
after  deciding  that  the  man  was  not  Lord  Harold, 
who  had  been  gone  for  some  time,  I  went  down  to 
meet  him. 

"  It  took  me  a  good  half  hour  to  reach  him,  and 
when  I  did  he  was  sitting  on  the  snow,  staring  ahead 
with  the  eyes  of  a  man  gone  mad.  When  he  saw  me 
he  cried  out  in  terror  and  would  have  ran  away,  but 
he  could  not  rise. 

"  I  spoke  to  him,  assuring  him  that  I  was  a  friend. 
I  was  used  to  meeting  men  with  the  Great  Fear  in 
their  eyes.  It  is  the  outlaw's  country. 

"  My  words  seemed  to  reassure  him.  He  allowed 
me  to  help  him  up  to  the  cabin,  where  I  cared  for 
him  until  he  was  able  to  go  on  again.  The  man  had 
been  starving. 

"  While  he  was  in  the  half-mad  state  in  which  I 
found  him  he  talked  a  good  deal.  I  did  not  pay  much 
attention  to  it  at  the  time.  It  has  been  much  in  my 
life  to  forget  the  words  of  men.  But  several  times 


288  THE  TANG 

as  I  have  sat  with  you  while  you  talked  together 
here,  his  words  have  come  back  to  me. 

"  I  learned  that  his  name  was  Clinton  —  and  that 
he  belonged  to  the  Mounted.  And  I  also  learned 
that  there  was  someone  that  he  was  afraid  to  meet. 
Several  times  he  spoke  of  a  woman.  He  did  not 
mention  her  name,  but  he  cried  out  often  that  she 
would  recognize  him  —  that  she  had  recognized 
him! 

"  When  the  time  came  for  him  to  go  he  was  loth 
to  do  so.  The  madness  had  gone  but  the  Great  Fear 
was  still  there.  I  gave  him  provisions  enough  to 
see  him  to  the  nearest  post,  where  he  said  he  was 
going.  Just  before  he  left  I  reminded  him  that  I 
was  a  priest,  and  asked  him  if  there  was  anything 
he  would  like  to  say  to  me. 

"  He  hesitated  for  a  few  moments,  and  then  he 
made  confession.  I  cannot  tell  you  that.  I  am  still 
a  priest.  But  I  can  tell  you  one  thing  of  which  I 
am  convinced  —  and  that  is  that  Herbert  Roth  was 
an  innocent  man  —  a  man  convicted  on  false  evi- 
dence for  a  crime  which  he  did  not  commit !  " 

There  was  silence  in  the  room  when  Father  Cor- 
riveau  finished  speaking.  The  two  men  were 


THE  TANG  289 

weighing  his  words  and  endeavoring  to  find  a  place 
in  the  puzzle  of  events  for  this  new  piece.  Herbert 
Roth  was  innocent!  He  had  served  his  term,  and 
then  he  had  come  to  the  North  in  search  of  ven- 
geance on  the  man  who  had  convicted  him !  There 
seemed  little  doubt  of  that.  But  who  was  Clinton? 
And  why,  since  the  possibility  of  his  being  identical 
with  Roth  had  been  dissolved,  had  he  been  in  such 
fear  of  being  recognized  by  Barbara?  And  most 
puzzling  of  all,  why,  when  Barbara  had  recognized 
him,  had  she  recognized  him  as  Roth? 

Brewster  was  the  first  to  speak. 

"  Gets  me,"  he  said,  shaking  his  shaggy  old  head; 
"  had  some  stickers  when  I  was  in  the  Mounted, 
but  this'n  beats  all."  Then  looking  at  Father  Cor- 
riveau, 

"  An'  to  think  this  ol'  scalawag  probably  knows 
the  whole  blame  thing  an'  won't  tell  us." 

"  I've  told  you  all  I  can,"  replied  the  priest. 

The  next  morning  Lisle  told  Barbara  what  the 
priest  had  said. 

"  I  cannot  understand  it,"  said  the  girl.  "  I 
could  still  almost  swear  that  it  was  Herbert  Roth's 
face  I  saw  at  Ft.  Wrigley.  There  is  something 
about  it  that  would  be  hard  to  forget,  having  once 


290  THE  TANG 

seen  it  And  why  was  Clinton  so  much  disturbed 
at  my  having  recognized  him?  " 

"  It  is  puzzling,1'  replied  Lisle,  "  and  I  must  con- 
fess that  I  am  entirely  in  the  dark.  The  other 
phases  of  the  situation  have  been  practically  cleared 
up.  The  Luger  bullet  proves  that  Lord  Harold  was 
the  one  who  really  killed  Roth.  Evidently  it  was 
Steve's  which  caught  him  in  the  arm.  We  will  just 
have  to  wait  and  hope  that  the  rest  will  clear  itself 
up  sooner  or  later.  In  the  meantime,  of  course,  you 
will  wish  to  continue  your  search  for  your  brother." 

"  Certainly." 

"As  you  can  judge  for  yourself  there  are  not 
sufficient  provisions  to  stake  us  out  from  here.  The 
only  course  seems  to  be  to  proceed  as  we  had  planned, 
and  there  outfit  for  the  journey  through  the  summer 
months." 

"  I  have  been  thinking  it  over,  too,"  replied  Bar- 
bara, "  and  have  come  to  practically  the  same  conclu- 
sion. You  will  realize  of  course  that  at  the  Fort 
our  ways  must  —  part." 

"Naturally  that  is  your  wish.  Nevertheless  I 
must  receive  orders  to  that  effect  from  McLean. 
His  last,  as  you  have  read,  were  to  continue  with 
you  —  bat  I  shall  wire  him  from  the  Fort." 


THE  TANG  291 

"  And  if  he  refuses  to  change  the  orders?  " 

"  I  must  refuse  to  leave  you." 

The  fire  came  into  the  girl's  eyes  again. 

;<  You  have  a  great  deal  more  presumption  than 
I  had  given  you  credit  for !  "  she  replied  with  spirit. 
"  It  is  not  enough  that  you  have  forced  your  com- 
pany upon  me  for  eleven  months,  but  you  must  now 
continue  to  do  so !  Really,  if  I  were  in  your  place  I 
believe  I  should  find  some  way  to  induce  Commis- 
sioner McLean  to  change  the  orders !  " 

"  I  have  no  right  to  interfere  with  the  orders  of 
a  Commissioner.  Nevertheless,  I  shall  do  my  best 
to  dissuade  him,  as  I  assure  you  I  am  anything  but 
eager  to  accompany  you  against  your  will,  in  spite 
of  what  you  may  think  to  the  contrary.  There  is 
one  thing,  however,  which  I  may  do  if  McLean  in- 
sists upon  my  going  with  you.  My  term  of  service 
expires  in  two  months.  It  will  be  fully  a  month  be- 
fore we  would  leave  on  the  summer  trip.  If  I 
should  resign  — " 

"You  would  do  that?" 

"  Gladly.  Then  you  would  be  obliged  to  suffer 
my  company  for  only  a  month." 

"  I  think  it  will  not  be  necessary  for  you  to  re- 
sign. I  shall  wire  to  McLean  myself." 


292  THE  TANG 

"  Very  well.  As  you  like.  Brewster  will  no 
doubt  be  willing  to  be  your  guide,  and  you  could 
have  no  better.  Also,  we  may  find  Naomi  at  the 
Bay." 

"And  Danny!" 

"  I  hope  so." 

"  Oh,  so  do  I !  If  I  never  appreciated  him  before, 
I  do  now !  " 

"  I  am  glad  for  that.  He  merits  all  the  appre- 
ciation you  have  to  give  him !  " 

The  man's  tone  was  absolutely  sincere.  The  girl 
looked  at  him  quizzically.  Did  he  still  care  for  her  ? 
There  was  no  intimation  of  jealousy  in  his  attitude 
toward  Danny  Blake.  What  a  strange  combina- 
tion of  things  was  this  man  in  whom  she  had  been 
so  cruelly  disappointed! 

The  journey  to  Ft.  Churchill  was  completed  in 
five  days.  They  found  no  trace  of  Blake  or  Naomi. 

Father  Corriveau  left  the  party  at  the  cabin.  Be- 
fore leaving  he  had  taken  Barbara  aside  and  said  a 
few  words  to  her  alone. 

"  It  has  been  my  lot  to  pay  little  attention,  on  the 
surface  of  things,  to  the  difference  in  the  breed  of 
men,"  he  said,  taking  her  hand  and  looking  keenly 


THE  TANG  293 

into  the  clear  eyes,  "  but  within  me  I  have  learned 
them  well.  I  make  no  man's  affair  my  own  unless 
he  asks  me,  and  then  I  will  help  him  if  his  purpose 
be  good,  be  he  outlaw  or  not.  Neither  have  I  any 
intention  of  changing  that  habit  now.  But  I  would 
like  to  tell  you  before  I  go  what  my  eyes  could  not 
help  but  see  —  that  for  some  reason  at  which  I  may 
only  guess  you  are  taking  a  mistaken  attitude  to- 
ward a  very  splendid  man  —  an  attitude  which  I  am 
thoroughly  convinced  he  does  not  deserve." 

"  If  you  are  referring  to  John  Lisle,"  replied  Bar- 
bara, "  then  I  must  say  that  I  cannot  agree  with  you. 
For  eleven  months  he  followed  me  through  the  North 
on  the  trail  of  my  brother  with  the  purpose  of  ar- 
resting him  on  the  charge  of  murder  after  I  should 
track  him  down !  —  because  he  was  unable  to  cap- 
ture him  alone!  He  permitted  me  to  believe  I  was 
tracking  my  brother  solely  for  the  purpose  of  our 
reunion,  and  appeared  to  be  helping  me  to  do  so! 
He  was  supposed  to  be  my  protector !  He  had  noth- 
ing to  do  with  finding  my  brother  —  he  failed  to 
protect  me  when  I  most  needed  him  —  my  brother 
found  him  —  took  him  back  from  the  door  of  death. 
And  then  this  man  whom  you  call  '  splendid  '  would 
have  claimed  him  for  his  prisoner,  and  taken  him 


294  THE  TANG 

back  as  such !  A  '  splendid '  man,  indeed !  A 
hero!" 

"  Lisle  was  carrying  out  his  orders.  Sometimes 
that  is  the  hardest  thing  in  the  world  to  do.  It  is 
the  men  who  simply  carry  out  their  orders,  even 
though  they  carry  their  colors  down  to  defeat,  while 
others  perform  the  deeds  which  gain  for  them  the 
laurel  wreath,  that  are  the  heroes." 

"  And  what  about  the  worthiness  or  unworthiness 
of  the  cause  they  serve  so  faithfully?  Does  that 
count  for  nothing?  If  the  Law  says  shoot  this  man 
in  the  back,  or  murder  this  one  before  his  children, 
would  a  man  be  blameless  who  would  do  it  ?  " 

"  The  Law  is  not  infallible.  It  is  man-made  and 
man-enforced  and  therefore  it  is  many  times  un- 
just. It  must  change,  and  it  must  grow  toward  an 
effort  at  perfection.  But  it  is  the  best  thing  we 
have  —  and  until  we  have  a  better  we  must  obey  it 
and  help  it  to  be  enforced  —  for  without  it  the  world 
would  go  mad.  You  think  little  of  the  soldier  who 
will  not  fight  for  his  country,  be  the  cause  of  her 
quarrel  the  desire  for  selfish  gain,  or  a  feud  of  kings. 
John  Lisle  is  a  soldier  of  the  Law  —  and  he  must 
carry  out  the  oath  of  his  allegiance." 

The  girl  was  staring  at  a  little  clump  of  spruces 


THE  TANG  295 

beyond  the  clearing,  but  her  eyes  did  not  see  it. 

"  It  is  a  strange  place,  this  world  of  men,"  she 
said  slowly,  "  with  a  strange  code  of  honor  —  and 
it  seems  stranger  still  that  this  code  should  be  upheld 
by  a  man  who  is  enlisted  in  the  Divine  Order.  I 
cannot  understand  it.  And  I  cannot  become  recon- 
ciled to  it.  I  am  sorry." 

"  You  will  think  it  over,"  said  Father  Corriveau 
gently,  "  and  you  will  come  to  see  it  —  and  you  will 
try  to  help  it  —  as  you  would  help  anything  that  is 
young  and  faulty  and  trying  to  grow  toward  a 
worthy  purpose.  I  know  you  will  —  because  I  see 
in  your  eyes  that  which  I  have  seen  in  the  eyes  of 
the  men  and  women  who  have  helped  it  thus  far. 
Go,  now,  and  forget  that  I  have  spoken,  if  you 
will." 

At  Dawson,  on  the  2nd  of  April,  Commissioner 
McLean  of  the  Mounted  received  three  telegrams 
from  Ft.  Churchill.  At  the  first  one  he  frowned,  at 
the  second  he  smiled,  and  at  the  third  he  laughed 
very  loudly  indeed.  Then  he  proceeded  to  reply  to 
them. 

On  April  3rd  three  telegrams  were  received  at 
the  station  at  Ft.  Churchill,  from  Dawson.  One 


296  THE  TAXG 

was  addressed  to  "  Sergt.  John  Lisle,''  another  to 
"  Miss  Barbara  Barrows,"  and  a  third  to  "  Mr.  Ros- 
coe  Brewster."  There  was  a  general  parting  of  the 
company  as  each  recipient  sought  a  secluded  corner 
of  the  room  in  which  to  read  the  contents  of  his  mes- 
sage. 

The  one  addressed  to  Lisle  read  as  follows: 

"  You've  your  orders.     What  more  do  you  want  ? 

"  MCLEAN." 

To  Barbara, 

"  Sony.  Would  change  even  the  Law  of  Gravita- 
tion if  I  could,  but  unfortunately  am  unable  to  do  so. 
Make  no  apologies  for  selection  of  escort,  however, 
as  they  don't  make  them  any  better. 

"  COMMISSIONER  MCLEAN." 

And  to  Brewster, 

"  You're  a  feell  of  a  chaperon.'* 

There  was  a  general  secret  rise  of  feeling  as  each 
of  the  three  objected  that  their  particular  telegram 


THE  TANG  297 

was   very  unsatisfactory.     Followed  a  unanimous 
move  toward  the  blanks,  and  late  in  the  afternoon 
Commissioner  McLean  was  again  the  recipient  of 
three  messages  from  Hudson  Bay. 
To  Lisle's  he  replied, 

"  Resignation  papers  mailed  yesterday.  I'm  not 
as  nearsighted  as  I  look.  In  fact  I  can  see  farther 
than  you  can.  Congratulations !  " 

To  Brewster's, 

"  Try  a  June  evening.  You  can't  expect  much 
from  seventy  below.  Give  them  time." 

And  to  Barbara's, 

"  Don't  be  a  silly  little  fool.     Marry  him." 

Two  sounds  followed  the  reading  of  the  telegrams 
—  the  enthusiastic  tearing  of  paper,  and  an  old  man's 
smothered  chuckle. 

Summer  came  again  to  the  North  country  —  and 
with  it  the  thaw.  The  caribou,  the  geese  and  the 


298  THE  TANG 

ducks  and  other  birds  came  back  to  the  mountains, 
and  the  Barrens  were  covered  with  moss.  Across 
the  prairies  and  around  the  foothills  rang  the  mating 
calls  of  the  creatures  of  the  wild. 

For  three  months  the  Siren  Country  smiled  and 
wore  wild  flowers  in  her  hair  and  then  came  Sep- 
tember. 

One  day  near  the  end  of  this  month,  Commissioner 
McLean  and  Roscoe  Brewster  sat  talking  together 
in  the  former's  office  at  Dawson. 

"  Go  on,"  the  Commissioner  was  saying,  "  I'm 
waiting  to  hear  the  rest  of  it." 

"  Well  —  seems  like  Barrows  an'  Clinton  meets 
up  somewhere  near  Lost  Valley,  some  time  after 
Barrows  has  escaped  bein'  took  by  Lisle.  Clinton 
draws  on  'im  but  don't  get  away  with  it  somehow 
or  other,  an'  Barrows  has  'im  cornered,  when  along 
comes  Father  Corriveau,  who  is  returnin'  to  Hope 
Castle  to  hang  out  a  spell.  It  seems  Barrows  is  some 
shook  up  thinkin'  Clinton  is  Herbert  Roth,  an'  Clin- 
ton is  some  shook  up  for  reasons  afterwards  dis- 
closed. Father  Corriveau  asks  questions  an'  un- 
ravels answers  an'  does  a  heap  of  persuadin',  until 
he  has  Clinton  tellin'  Barrows  who  killed  Jack  Robin 
—  which  is  Greek  for  sayin'  that  Clinton,  whose 


THE  TANG  299 

U.  S.  name  was  Clark,  confessed  to  havin'  com- 
mitted the  crime  for  which  Herbert  Roth  was  con- 
victed ! 

"  It  seems  Clark  an'  Roth  was  doubles  as  far 
as  appearance  went  —  an'  mebbe  a  good  deal  far- 
ther, as  any  man  who'll  take  the  trouble  Roth  took 
to  get  vengeance  on  Barrows  ain't  much  better,  in 
my  mind,  than  one  who  covets  'is  neighbor's  goods. 
At  any  rate,  Clark  was  the  only  one  of  the  two  who 
was  wise  to  the  resemblance,  it  bein'  sort  of  in  his 
line  of  business  to  watch  for  chance  opportunities. 
Consequently  he  pulls  off  the  grand  larceny,  takin' 
great  care  to  be  seen  by  a  fool  servant,  an'  some  way 
or  other  turns  the  suspicion  on  Roth.  Clark  skips 
for  Canada  an'  joins  the  Mounted  under  the  headin' 
of  Clinton,  thinkin'  to  serve  one  term  an'  then  re- 
sign an'  spend  'is  booty.  Roth  is  convicted  an' 
serves  the  term." 

"  And  after  the  confession?  " 

"  Me  an'  Miss  Barrows  an'  Lisle  arrives.  We'd 
trailed  Steve  to  Lost  Valley  by  means  of  a  couple 
of  trappers  who'd  seen  'im  headin'  in  that  direction, 
an'  later  by  Smoke,  the  Injun  who'd  been  erstwhile 
attached  to  Clark.  He'd  found  Steve's  trail  an' 
followed  'im,  thinkin'  he  might  be  Lord  Harold. 


300  THE  TANG 

"Of  course  as  soon  as  we  struck  Barrows'  trail 
the  dog  took  it  up  with  a  vengeance  an'  we  had  no 
trouble  tracin'  'im  after  that. 

"  Well,  as  I  was  sayin',  we  all  arrived  just  after 
the  grand  confession,  with  the  news  of  Barrows' 
bein'  cleared,  an'  after  the  family  reunion  we  all  sits 
down  to  talk  over  where  were  we  goin'  from  there. 
It  was  generally  agreed  that  what  to  do  with  Clark 
was  the  first  point  to  be  considered,  an'  as  Lisle  had 
resigned  from  the  Mounted  he  hadn't  any  right  to 
arrest  'im,  an'  Steve  figured  he  didn't  neither.  So 
Father  Corriveau  suggests  we  give  'im  a  chance  an' 
a  stake  an'  let  'im  go,  an'  if  anybody  wanted  to  go 
after  'im  later,  all  right.  Miss  Barbara  an'  Steve 
then  had  a  little  talk  in  which  Miss  Barbara  told  'im 
he  must  send  at  once  to  be  reinstated  in  the  Service. 
Said  he  should  do  all  he  could  to  help  it  to  grow 
up  big  an'  healthy  an'  better  or  something  like  that. 
She  puts  her  argument  so  strong  Steve  is  for  startin' 
at  once  for  the  nearest  telegraph  station.  I  figures 
to  go  with  'im,  an'  Father  Corriveau  he  says  he's 
kind  o'  hankerin'  after  another  little  jaunt  himself. 
The  only  ones  who  didn't  seem  particular  about 
goin'  anywhere  was  Miss  Barbara  an'  Lisle." 

"  So  the  June  evening  worked  ?  " 


THE  TANG  301 

"  You  said  it.  Although  the  thaw  really  begun 
somewheres  in  May." 

The  Commissioner  chuckled. 

"Well?" 

"  Any  fool  could  figure  out  the  rest.  A  isolated 
retreat  in  a  place  by  the  name  of  Lost  Valley,  fixed 
up  with  all  the  comforts  of  home,  includin'  a  priest 
an'  witnesses,  an'  God's  country  fairly  wavin'  with 
flowers ! " 

The  two  men  sat  silent  for  a  moment.  Then  the 
Commissioner  asked, 

"  Did  you  ever  come  across  Naomi  ?  " 

The  old  man  nodded. 

"  Found  'er  on  the  way  back,  at  the  cabin  where 
Lord  Harold  was  buried.  She  hadn't  found  any 
trace  of  the  tenderfoot  she  went  after.  We  could 
hardly  get  'er  to  leave  the  place,  but  Smoke  finally 
persuaded  'er.  She'd  planted  some  flowers  over  the 
outlaw's  grave." 

The  Commissioner  puffed  thoughtfully  at  his 
cigar. 

"  A  strange  thing  —  love,"  he  said  finally. 

"Love?" 

"  Yes.  Naomi  loved  that  outlaw.  He  came  to 
Dawson  when  she  was  younger  —  and  more  fair  — 


302  THE  TANG 

and  she  disappeared  with  him.  A  year  later  she 
came  back.  No  one  ever  asked  her  why.  There 
was  that  in  her  eyes  which  forbade  it.  I  have  often 
wondered  —  and  now  I  know.  A  strange  and  a 
very  lovely  thing — faithfulness  —  like  that!  It  is 
the  way  with  some  women !  " 

A  summer  twilight  in  the  country  of  the  South- 
land —  her  loveliness  enhanced  with  the  rose  of  the 
afterglow  —  with  pale  blue  and  violet  mists,  and 
decked  with  tiny  gems  of  yellow  light. 

In  a  rose  arbor  by  the  side  of  a  cottage,  a  man 
and  a  woman  —  a  woman  with  eyes  like  the  wide 
bright  wings  of  a  blue  butterfly,  looking  up  into  the 
face  of  the  man  as  he  strummed  the  strings  of  a 
guitar  and  sang  the  words  of  a  love  song. 

"  Oh,  Danny !  "  breathed  the  girl  as  the  song  was 
ended.  "  Suppose  —  suppose  those  trappers  had 
never  found  you  —  suppose  you'd  — "  and  a  soft 
hand  closed  tightly  about  the  man's  slim  fingers. 
He  gathered  her  up  in  his  arms. 

"  Hush,  little  girl,"  he  said  softly,  "  we  were'nt 
going  to  talk  about  that  any  more !  " 

"I  know,  but—" 


THE  TANG  303 

"  I  had  a  letter  from  Barbara  and  John  to-day." 

"What  did  they  say?" 

"  John  said  that  he  was  very,  very  glad  that  the 
little  Butterfly  girl  from  his  home  town  had  ceased 
her  tantalizing  flights,  and  had  at  last  folded  her 
wings  —  remember,  I'm  quoting  —  in  a  golden 
house  —  the  heart  of  Danny  Blake!  " 

"Ah,  you  see,  he  knows!     And  Barbara?" 

"  Many  things  —  mostly  about  little  cottages  on 
the  edge  of  Nowhere  —  Mariposa  lilies  growing 
through  the  snow  —  and  the  laughter  of  —  pa- 
pooses ! " 


THE   END 


A     000  071  243     0 


